A Moment With You
by Ablissa
Summary: Misty has been gone for three years. Ash Ketchum, now 17, has only seen her twice during that time. She became a Gym Leader, he was still on the road to becoming a Pokémon Master, traveling through Sinnoh with an unlikely group of friends. Yet something was missing - he knew it, but he couldn't name it... Not until the day that gave him a chance to see her again. AAML/Pokeshipping
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Hello, everyone! I present you one of my countless Ash/Misty fics. Please keep in mind that some of the things I will introduce here will be completely different from the anime, some characters acting slightly different (I've stayed true to the majority though, I hope), an unlikely travelling companion for Ash and more. I tailored this piece to match my own tastes, and my endless love for AAML (never quite gave up...)

English is not my native language, so please bear with me! ^_^ Please let me know if you like this story - this is the first AAML fic I chose to share, so I admit I'm feeling rather anxious!

As for shippings, this story is all about **Pokeshipping**, but there will be other shippings as well which will reveal themselves in the course of the story.

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own **Pokémon** or any of the characters in this story. The whole franchise belongs to Nintendo and Satoshi Tajiri.

**~~oOo~~**

**Character age:**

**Ash: **17

**Misty:** 17

**Brock:** 22

**Quick summary: **Misty was forced to leave Ash's side over three years ago, when her sisters decided to make her the new Gym Leader. Ash went through the Hoenn region and moved on to Sinnoh, collecting badges and living his life the same way he had always been, but he couldn't shake off the feeling that something was missing. As the feeling grew stronger, he heard some very surprising news...

**~~oOo~~**

**Another small village, another Pokémon Center to spend the night at** - they all begun to blend into one, after so many years spent on the road. Ash Ketchum, now 17, loved the kind of life he had lived. While he started the journey alone, he didn't travel alone for long, and now the group of friends who traveled with him peaked at 3 trainers. Four individuals, each one of them unique, all united with a similar goal - to explore the world of Pokémon, each in their own way; some to compete against other trainers, some hoping to become a Pokémon breeder.

It wouldn't matter if he had a following of 5,000, though; as long as just one wasn't there. That one person who completed the whole picture, a person whom he had always secretly thought of in ways he couldn't quite understand; a person who had to leave over three years ago.

Misty.

Those three years have all been a blur; as much as he enjoyed traveling and obtaining new badges, when she had left, some of the significance has gone with her. He was now a seasoned trainer, in the middle of his journey through Sinnoh, but sometimes, Ash thought it didn't matter at all. If Misty wasn't there to encourage him when he loses, and laugh at him when his ego grows too big, to yell at him when he gets them lost in the middle of nowhere, and smile at him knowingly when making one of her strange comments... If Misty wasn't there to support him, what did it all matter?

They had little contact during the time spent away. Or so it felt to Ash... He has seen her twice, but that could hardly replace the days spent together on a brand new journey, camping in the strangest of places, tasting both victory and failure... Tasting feelings he couldn't quite understand back then, in his young age.

Now, with the lights off, lying on an uncomfortable sofa in the Pokémon Center, with Pikachu lying beside him, he closed his eyes and begun to think.

The thought of her remained in his mind, and every single day, he would think back to the times he had spent with her. The fights, the laughs, the little moments of clarity, when he realized just how much she meant to him, and the attempts to conceal his growing feelings.

And then, she left... What he told Max that one time was true - he missed her everyday. He was a passionate young trainer, with his goals clear as the blue sky on a sunny day. He knew what he wanted, he knew what his dreams were... Or did he?

_Misty..._

He drifted off into a dreamless slumber, which brought him rest, but not the feeling of refreshment he had hoped for.

**~~oOo~~**

"Ashy boy! Wake up, we've gotta get going!" a demanding voice exclaimed, looming somewhere above his head. When that had no effect, the person spilled some cold water on his face. Ash jumped up instantly, flailing his arms maniacally.

"I'M DROWNING!" he yelled, causing all the pairs of eyes in the room to turn his way. When he realized what had happened, he blushed and focused his anger on the person that woke him. Gary Oak.

What an unlikely companion he had been! Who would have guessed that Ash and Gary would one day end up traveling together? Gary followed Ash around with the simple task of annoying him, after running into him at the beginning of Ash's journeys in the Sinnoh region. His attitude was - as always - rather awful, but they both grew somewhat used to each other, and Gary decided to stick around for a little while longer. After all, it's been too much fun to make Ash angry on daily basis, and watch him make dumb mistakes all the time... Ash may have matured, but he was still the same clumsy Ash most of the time.

"GARY! YOU... I'M GOING TO...!" Ash shouted, bringing his clenched fist right in front of Gary's face. Gary laughed it off, and then looked down, pointing at Ash.

"Might wanna put on some pants first, Ashy boy," he remarked, and then walked away, joining the others in front of the big TV as they watched the news while munching on their breakfast.

Ash, with a miserable expression, mumbling something about "that idiot Gary", quickly put on his jeans and joined them. All of his friends were already awake, and Pikachu was with them, eating happily.

He gave them all a short look, feeling annoyed with Gary. Dawn and Brock were sitting down, staring at the TV and chatting.

"Morning," Ash mumbled, sitting down next to them and unwrapping his sandwich.

"You're finally up! We should have been on the road since an hour," Dawn whined, her eyes shooting daggers at Ash.

"What's the hurry? You forgot how you held us up at the shopping centre in the last city?" Ash mocked, "That ought to be more than an hour. Maybe five..."

"So you'd rather go without supplies? If you want to starve, that's your problem, but I..."

Dawn's speech was interrupted by Ash himself. He turned his eyes to the large TV in front of them, catching a glimpse of a painfully familiar sight. The boy stood abruptly, hushed Dawn with a short hand gesture, and listened intently to the news, eyes focused on the flashing images on the screen. He could barely make out the words above the sound of his racing heartbeat.

"_The three Sensational Sisters of the Cerulean Gym have once again returned to their hometown with the intention of running the Gym, determined to combine beauty and strength into one! Our station was the first one to exchange a few words with them." _The overly enthusiastic commentator spoke his well studied words, unknowingly stirring mayhem within Ash's heart. It all started with one skipped beat - that one second, which felt like an hour - after that, his heart started pounding, his skin felt as if it was on fire, his incoherent thoughts became a jumbled mess made of memories. One memory he could not forget, no matter how much he tried.

_Misty!_

The images on the television shifted, showing the interview with Misty's three older sisters. Ash struggled to breathe as he listened to the girls speak in their usual loud, overwhelming manner.

_"Please tell us about your plans. What are the three Sensational Sisters going to do from here forth?" _asked the TV station employee.

_"Well, like, we are tired of being away, you know? So we're gonna be here. We have this fabulous idea for a new water show." _replied Daisy, offering the man her trademark smile.

_"What about the fourth sister, the current Gym Leader, Misty?"_

Misty. The mere mention of her name sent him pummeling down into the spiral of memories. If her sisters are back, what will she do?

_"I don't know. Anyway, we are bored, so we will take over the Gym. She can go back on the road, or stick around, or something." _came the careless answer, which saddened Ash. Even immature as he always was, it was hard not to notice how much Misty had suffered thanks to her sisters careless demeanor, and this answer was a proof that they haven't changed a bit during the past two years.

He continued listening intently, completely unaware of his surroundings, as the images shifted once more, showing the TV presenter in front of the Cerulean Gym.

_"With the three Sensational Sisters once again back in town, Cerulean has certainly got a lot to look forward to. Young trainers and wider audience are all invited for the re-opening ceremony this Saturday. This was Chiyaki Kusakabe for PTV."_

A million thoughts began racing through the young man's head; as if a hundred wild horses, trampling everything else in their way. All of his dreams moved aside to make room for just one memory, for just one wish. For a pair of turquoise eyes, for a voice softer than silk, a smile he had missed, but often refused to admit it. Just thinking about her made him nearly unable to act, to breathe, let alone form a sensible sentence - think how seeing her would be! Seeing her was out of the question up until now; the dream of her returning remained a dream, up until today. She was free. What would she choose to do? Would she return on the road? Would she remain? Has she met new people back in Cerulean? Has she found a reason to stay?

All of those thoughts and questions lingered for but a moment. A brilliant thought appeared in his mind, a thought that could end up in both agony and bliss, but Ash Ketchum was willing to take the risk.

"Ooh, look at that," Gary spoke up, breaking Ash's internal monologue, "Your _girlfriend_ is free to leave the gym, huh?" Of course, Gary was well informed, having traveled with them for a while by now.

Ash's cheeks turned a much deeper shade of red than he would have wished.

"She is NOT my girlfriend." came the expected reply, spoken in an annoyed tone of voice.

"True, I _almost _forgot a loser like you would have some difficulty finding one," mocked Gary, unknowingly hitting a soft spot. In all of his undefined musings related to Misty, he had never assumed her feelings would be mutual. Whatever his feelings were, there was no way for her to ever think the same way.

"So Misty will no longer lead the Cerulean Gym... I wonder, what's she going to do?" Brock thought out loud, carefully examining Ash's features. He found his friend bearing a very determined expression, one which he had already seen before. When Ash set his mind on something, he would see it through to the end, after all.

"She should come and travel with us again!" Ash exclaimed to everybody's surprise.

"And how is she going to find you, you little genius?" Dawn mocked.

"She won't have to," Ash calmly retorted, "I am going to find her. I will return to Kanto and visit her in Cerulean City."

Silence fell in the room as the much unexpected news were delivered, but it did not linger for long. Soon enough every one of the trainers Ash traveled with decided to speak up, bringing forth an increasing cacophony of voices.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Dawn shrieked.

"That is a rather big detour," Brock commented rationally, nowhere near as moved as the female trainer.

"So you finally decided to get a girlfriend?" Gary smirked.

Ash looked at his friends feeling slightly lost, but he did not surrender under Dawn's harsh look. He turned his eyes to Brock. The older trainer remained silent for a moment before speaking once more.

"It _is _a detour, but... I think you should do it, Ash." his words were simple, but they were all the reassurance Ash needed. He exchanged a meaningful glance with his much older best friend before turning back to the rest of the group.

He looked at them with unwavering confidence.

"Misty is my best friend," he begun, "She traveled with me and Brock for a long time. I don't know if she was happy to leave or not, but I want her to know that we'd all be happy if she returned. Me, Brock and Pikachu..." the two friends he had mentioned nodded eagerly at that point.

"Why don't you just call the Gym and ask her?" Dawn asked, and Ash stood silent for a moment.

"That wouldn't be the same," he replied after a short break, "Besides, I'm sure my Mom and Professor Oak will be happy to see us..." he added, although that did not play any part in his decision.

"I think it's a waste of time, Ash," his friend commented, sitting back down on the sofa and turning her eyes away with an angry expression.

"Maybe, that's why I will go alone. If any of you wants to follow me, that's great; if not, I will still go."

All of his friends were surprised with Ash's resolve. He was always completely focused on reaching his ultimate goal of becoming a Pokémon Master, and the only thing that could make him pause his journey was being hungry. Now, he was determined to postpone his journey through Sinnoh indefinitely just to take his chance at bringing an old friend back. The one the least surprised was Brock, and the most, surely Dawn. She has heard about Misty several times, and always noticed that Ash was fond of her, but never to this extent.

"I'm with you, Ash!" Brock declared immediately, "I could stop by the Pewter Gym before we head back to Sinnoh and see if my Mom didn't turn it into an aqua park or something," he added. Ash smiled warmly at his old friend, as Pikachu climbed up his shoulder.

"Pika!"

"Thanks, Pikachu," Ash leaned his head towards the electric rodent to show appreciation at his choice.

"I'm way ahead of you anyways, so I can afford visiting Gramps. My fan club back in Pallet deserves to see me, too; they've been sending me love letters all the time," Gary said, making Ash frown slightly. The break would not help his progress on the road to becoming a Pokémon Master, and he was well aware of it, but he would not change his mind.

The last person to speak up was Dawn, who still refused to look at Ash, clearly upset with him.

"Hmpf, I'll go, just to see you get in trouble and waste your time," she said at last, completing the circle of friends.

"Great!" Ash exclaimed, putting on his trademark hat, "Then we're going back to Kanto, as fast as we can!" at this, he grabbed his backpack, and was ready to head out on a journey to a place he knew so well, but this time, it was a journey to the past - a journey to bring his friend back.

**~~oOo~~**

**A/N:** Like it? Hate it? :( Let me know! It's truly motivating to hear from you!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Thank you for reading the previous chapter! Here is the next one, please review if you liked it, it means a lot to me :) Now that we have introduced the whole group, here is the age of all the characters:

**Ash: **17

**Misty:** 17

**Brock**: 22

**Dawn:** 16

**Gary**: 17

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Pokémon or any of the characters in this story. They all belong to Nintendo.

**~~oOo~~**

After all of his friends agreed to go with him, Ash allowed them to waste no time, so they were forced to immediately depart and head south, with a solid plan to catch a ship to Kanto; the ship departed on every Thursday, leaving them with not much time to get there. Another problem was that this journey would cost Ash all of his savings, but at the same time, it would be the fastest way of getting to Cerulean, so he didn't mind all that much. He was never much of a money saver.

Ash was plagued by a sense of urgency; ever since he heard the news, he wanted to be in Cerulean already, now, not in a week's time. He didn't know what he would say or do once he was there, but he knew that he had to be there - this was his chance to get Misty back, and that was something he really wished for, even if he couldn't quite understand why. _After all, she's my best friend, _he thought, _Of course I want her to come back._

**~~oOo~~**

They've traveled for the whole day under the warm sun, exhausting themselves completely. When twilight has fallen, the group decided to set up a camp in the woods to rest for the night, and while the others worked on preparing food, Ash has gone to get some more wood for the campfire. He didn't realize he was being followed until he heard his name spoken in a low tone, a whisper really, so quiet that it was barely audible; a shiver ran down his spine when he realized that he was all alone, as he carelessly left his Pokemon at the camp. Slightly frightened, he turned towards the direction of the voice, only to see Dawn emerge from the trees.

"Geez, Dawn, you scared me," he said, awkwardly putting his arm behind his head. She sighed in response, looking at him suspiciously.

"Ash, why are you doing this?" Dawn asked without any further ado. Ash frowned in confusion. What was she on about this time?

"Doing what? I told you guys I'd go get some wood for the campfire," he replied, and she rolled her eyes.

"Not _this! _Why are you going back to Kanto?" Dawn pressed with an undefined expression on her face.

"Misty is my best friend. I wouldn't forgive myself if I didn't try to bring her back," he answered impatiently, turning away from her to continue gathering wood. Dawn has been getting on his nerves lately, and today was no different.

Dawn stopped him in his tracks by putting her hand on his shoulder. He turned around to face her once again, both confused and strangely annoyed.

"Is that it?" Dawn asked, looking the boy straight in the eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"Is that really all she is to you?"

Her question turned Ash's face all shades of red, but it was concealed by the looming darkness around them, or so he had hoped. It was also a question he couldn't quite answer - and he surely would not attempt to share that answer with Dawn, even if he knew it.

"She's my best friend," he repeated stubbornly, refusing to reveal anything else - if there even was anything to reveal. He turned away once again and started collecting wood, this time not stopped by Dawn. She did not say another word to him for the rest of the night, but he barely noticed, consumed by his own thoughts.

**~~oOo~~**

Ash braved through a whole evening of snide comments from Gary and annoyed looks from Dawn with an uncharacteristic patience. Brock gave him a friendly pat on the back on more than one occasion, and his Pikachu was as cheerful as usual, but that was not the main reason behind his unusual silence and maturity. He felt as if his mind had drifted away somewhere, to a place a thousand miles away, to Cerulean City... To his one chance of bringing Misty back. Distracted as he was, he managed to ignore Gary's constant mocking most of the time, rarely talking back or attempting to shove Gary in the dirt only a few times.

When they had all retired for the night, he placed his sleeping bag a little further away from the others and lied down, looking at the millions of stars, with his faithful Pikachu next to him. How different this was from just 24 hours ago, when he was about to sleep, thinking about her, but not too hopeful about seeing her again anytime soon - now, he knew she might be free to go, and he decided to set out on an adventure to ask her to come back. He felt excited and impatient - even a moment's delay would be way too much.

"Do you think she'll want to come back, Pikachu?" he asked in a voice barely above a whisper, not turning his eyes away from the stars.

"Pika..." the Pokémon responded hopefully, meaning to say _"I hope so"._

"Me too... I really miss her..." Ash said very quietly, then closed his eyes, allowing the images of the past to flow through his mind. Her eyes, her smile, all her various moods... He missed this now more than ever, knowing there could be a chance of her coming back. He fell asleep with the image of her in his mind, much like the previous night.

The sun had risen, awakening the world, warming the cold, moist ground, and drying the dew from the leaves. Ash got up surprisingly eagerly, ready to go much before the others were even awake, feeling giddy with excitement.

If all goes well, they should be able to reach the harbor today or tomorrow, and hopefully catch a ship to Kanto. He did not even allow himself to think of any further delays.

_Even if we do get to the harbor today, it's still a long time until we actually get to Cerulean... It's such a long way... _- Ash sighed heavily and decided to go take a walk while the others wake up. Just as he was about to leave the camp, he suddenly remembered the way Gary woke him up just yesterday. He grinned to himself. Revenge is sweet, and as an added bonus, they might be able to leave earlier - as long as he manages to wake them all up.

As for his dearest friend Gary, he had a _very _special plan for him.

He threw the pokéball up in the air a few times, before quietly calling out the Pokémon that lived inside it. Squirtle.

This would beat Gary's pitiful awakening by a mile.

"Squirtle, use water gun on Gary," he whispered, trying hard to contain himself and not laugh, as the turtle Pokémon nodded with a smirk similar to that of his trainer. Afterwards, Squirtle performed his most basic attack right into Gary's face. Ash gave in and burst into laughter as his old rival jumped up, still in his sleeping bag, with pure shock on his face. It didn't take Gary long to realize who was the cause, though, and he turned his eyes to Ash, attempting to conserve his dignity as he stood there in his sleeping bag, almost unable to move.

"What's up, Gary? You look like a Metapod!" Ash pointed at Gary childishly and laughed even harder.

"Ketchum... You will pay for this," he growled, finally opening his sleeping bag to stand on his own two legs. Ash's increasing laughter woke up the other two trainers in his group.

_Mission accomplished!_ - Ash thought victoriously, wiping the tears of amusement from his eyes and looking back and forth between the surprised faces of his friends and the soaked, annoyed Gary.

"What are you two doing so early? I want to sleep..." Dawn whined, rubbing her eyes.

"Ash!" Gary shouted, "You're going to pay for this. I challenge you to a duel!"

"Hey, hey, let it go, Gary," Brock pleaded, positioning himself directly between Ash and Gary.

Ash, being the competitive young man that he was, never turned down a challenge, especially not one from Gary, so he eagerly shouted an agreement in reply, much to Brock's dismay.

"Fine! One on one! Right here and right now!" Ash exclaimed, "Pikachu! Go!"

Pikachu did not show up, so Ash frantically looked around, only to finally find the electric mouse snuggled up in his master's sleeping bag, fast asleep. He ran up to the Pokémon and nudged it a few times.

"Pikachu! Get up! We've got to battle!"

"Pika." came the reply, and Pikachu proceeded to snuggle up further, soon disappearing within the sleeping bag.

"What a great trainer you are, unable to even get your own Pokémon to move!" Gary mocked joyfully. Ash sighed heavily and reached towards his belt to produce a pokéball.

"Alright, I choose you, Sceptile!" Ash attempted to remain unmoved by Gary's remark as he threw the pokéball, spawning Sceptile, a large, green lizard-Pokémon.

"Very well! Umbreon, go!"

"Sceptile, use razor leaf!" Ash commanded, and the Pokémon did as he said, but Umbreon skillfully dodged every blow.

"Umbreon, use bite!"

The swift Pokémon charged forward to perform the attack, but was interrupted by a sudden noise, similar to that of a small aircraft, approaching them at a fast pace. They all raised their heads to look up, and soon noticed a helicopter, with no other than Jessie and James hanging on to the pull-out ladder.

"Prepare for trouble!" Jessie begun and James continued, "And make it double!"

"Not you again!" Ash cried, as Pikachu finally woke up and stood next to his trainer, muttering angry pika's and chu's here and there.

"To protect the world..."

"...from devastation, to unite all people's within our nation, blah, blah, blah, get it over with!" Gary continued in their place, much to their annoyance. "You both are getting boring already!"

"How do you think I feel? Seeing those two every week for the past years..." Brock sighed.

"Arrogant twerps! Today is the day that you lose!" Jessie exclaimed, "Meowth, activate the secret device!"

"Guys! Give me a break, I'm in a hurry today!" Ash interrupted with exasperation, "If we don't get to the harbor in time, we will have to wait for like a week for the next ship to depart! _A WEEK!_"

"Why would we care about what you twerps are doi-...wait, what?" Jessie stopped in the middle of the sentence as she understood Ash's meaning.

"Ship?" James appeared dumbfounded.

"Ashy-boy here is going back to Kanto in order to ask his _girlfriend_ Misty to travel with him again," Gary explained, with Ash's usual "_SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!"_ sounding in the background.

"Misty? Isn't that the scrawny redhead that used to travel with you?" Jessie inquired, and strangely enough, Ash felt compelled to defend Misty, even if back in the days he would be the first one to laugh at her and call her scrawny.

"SHE IS NOT SCRAWNY! GET DOWN HERE AND BATTLE ME ALREADY, I'M IN A HURRY!" Ash shouted angrily, shaking his fist at the unmoved members of Team Rocket.

"What happened to her, anyway?" Meowth asked, peeking out of the helicopter.

"She had to go run the gym in Cerulean, but she's free to leave now, and Ashy-boy wants her to return," Gary eagerly informed, enjoying Ash's angry expression to the fullest, as a form of revenge for the unpleasant way of waking him up.

Jessie, James and Meowth exchanged quick, meaningful glances, then begun whispering between each other, out of hearing range for the others.

"Well, if you don't want to battle, then we're off, see ya!" Ash shouted and begun walking away, but was stopped in his tracks by a large net falling on the top of their heads, trapping them all and lifting them up a few meters above the ground. Pikachu instantly attempted to use thundershock, but of course, the net was immune to electricity.

"AAAH! LET ME DOWN!" Dawn shrieked as the helicopter's engine carried them away from their previous location, far above the green woods of Sinnoh.

"Cowards!" Ash shouted in anger. _How am I ever gonna make it in time for the ship now? _

"Calm down, you twerps!" Jessie said in a surprisingly friendly voice.

"In the name of young love..." James added.

"...We decided to give you all a lift to the Sinnoh harbor!"

"Temporary truce, Meowth, that's right!"

"Just this once. Don't get any ideas!" Jessie added.

Ash and his friends looked at the members of Team Rocket with shock painted all over their faces. After a short moment of comprehension, Ash gave them a warm, honest smile, forgetting all the times they had messed things up for him, for just this one moment.

"Thanks, you guys," he said, "I owe you one."

"Your Pikachu, perhaps?" James joked with a smug smile on his face.

"Not Pikachu, but a favor..." came the reply.

"It's nice that you are all so friendly and all, but can you pull us up? There is not enough room in this net!" Dawn whined, shifting around and trying to make herself comfortable. Jessie laughed in reply.

"There isn't enough room in the helicopter either, young lady, and the net was not designed to fit that many," Jessie explained.

"It was made only for Pikachu!" Meowth chimed in.

"I can tell," she replied bitterly, "If it breaks we will all die, and we can thank Ash for his little journey on our way down to our deaths," she added.

"Geez, relax for a moment, Little Miss Jealousy," Gary said with an evil grin, hoping to tease both Dawn and Ash at the same time. It worked with Dawn - he was slapped instantly - but Ash seemed not to notice; instead, he looked down at the passing shades of green beneath them with a happy smile on his face, as they flew over one of the largest forests in Sinnoh, on their way to the harbor.

Finally, he could stop worrying about not making it in time to catch the ship to Kanto. Now the only thing to worry about was Misty and her response... and how to even form the question, without revealing the unnamed feelings that stirred within him whenever he thought of her?

Misty always said she knew everything about the matters of the heart, but Ash was the exact opposite - he could hardly understand his own emotions; they remained a confusing mess, bringing him a strange mix of joy, excitement, worry and uncertainty. He felt slightly jealous; if Misty had ever gone through something remotely similar to this, she'd surely know how to go about it, while he had no idea what to do. He noted the increased heartbeat whenever her name was spoken, hell, even thought of; he noticed that most of his thoughts revolved around her, and that one of his biggest dreams was to meet her again. He tried his best to push these feelings aside before, knowing that she was in Cerulean, thousands of miles away from him, and all he could do was miss her terribly.

He noticed these things, these new feelings, and slowly begun to reach the conclusion that Misty meant more to him than just a best friend would, as he so often liked to call her. The confusion was overwhelming, but not nearly as much as the will to finally see her again. He could see it before his eyes, as if a movie playing only for him. The moment he sees her again... The moment that may bring him some clarity and peace of mind... For the time being, he felt a bothersome lack of both, and he could only hope that seeing her would soothe his mind.

As he looked down at the world below him, he couldn't help but wonder - just when did his life start to feel so incomplete without Misty?

**~~oOo~~**

**A/N2:** A quick note regarding Ash's/Gary's Pokémon - I'll go ahead and admit that I'm not sure what Pokémon Ash had/has on his team at present time (or during Sinnoh episodes for that matter), so I just picked a few I knew he had at some point. I am aware that he probably did not have Squirtle back in Sinnoh (on a side note, how can it still be a Squirtle after all this time?), but it felt suitable. Let me know if you liked the chapter! ^_^


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Longer chapter today - you'll finally get to hear from Misty, at last! Thank you for reading my fic, each and every reader makes me happy! ^_^

**~~oOo~~**

The flight was passing rather quickly, although it left them all with a serious case of backache - the net was hardly big enough to fit them all, so they spent two hours in the most uncomfortable positions imaginable. Dawn finally stopped complaining and instead got into a discussion with Gary; Brock begun schooling James about the products they have fed their Pokémon with, and even gave the Rocket a few tips on how to improve their diet. As for Ash, he remained mostly silent, lost in thought, which was pretty unusual for him. His strange behavior turned Brock's attention to his younger friend.

At times, it seemed like not a single thought ever passed through Ash's mind throughout the course of a whole day, but he has been behaving strangely lately. Brock looked at Ash with some sort of amusement; he did not have to ask "what's wrong?"

It was pretty obvious to him after all, considering that he had traveled with Ash for such a long time, and although Ash may have been oblivious to the signs, Brock was not. He considered himself an expert when it comes to relationships, so he could not miss the signs which he had already noticed back when Misty was still their traveling companion. _Well Ash, it looks like it's finally got you!_, Brock thought to himself, smiling knowingly.

Two and a half hours later, the machine began descending, and finally dropped the net about a meter away from the ground. The familiar Team Rocket trio peeked out of the helicopter as the autopilot flew the aircraft away.

"You'd better make good use of our help, you little twerp!" Jessie cried.

"Team Rocket's _not_ blasting off again!" James added as they flew away.

"How do they get the money for all these gadgets?" Brock wondered while stretching his arms painfully with a groan.

"Doesn't matter, let's go!" Ash pointed ahead and then started running ahead, with his faithful Pikachu following closely behind, "We're close to the city!"

Dawn shook her head as she picked up her yellow bag and followed along with the rest of the group, walking the grated path at a normal pace, rather than running like Ash did. The girl sighed in silent resignation, thinking it would go by unnoticed, but it did not. Gary noticed; he softly nudged her shoulder, not saying a word, but comforting her nevertheless. They exchanged a friendly glance and continued walking along in companionable silence, excluding Ash's demands for them to hurry up, shouted from somewhere far ahead of them.

**~~oOo~~**

**CERULEAN CITY**

She opened her eyes to face yet another dull day. It has been two weeks since Misty gave up the leadership of the Cerulean Gym at the request of her sisters, and she really didn't know what to do with her time. The first few days were nice enough, sure. Sleeping till noon, watching TV, swimming with her Pokémon the whole afternoon, reading one too many romance novels. It was nice enough, but she could only stay idle for so long. Her days used to be so busy, barely leaving any time to think, allowing escape from her memories; but now, she felt lost.

When she was given the burden of leading the gym - at the time it seemed like a burden - she was as reluctant as it gets. Leaving Ash, Brock and Pikachu was the last thing she wanted to do, even if she always claimed she had been following Ash around only for the sake of her bike.

Once she arrived in Cerulean, she has learned to cope, made a few new friends, and became quite famous in Kanto for her good leadership combined with excellent battle skills.

Yet, in some strange way, it all didn't matter; it all seemed temporary. It was a stop on the way, but on the way to what?

She got up and brushed her now shoulder-length, red hair, as she pondered on what to do with all this time, what to do with her future. Her sisters kept yapping on and on about her having thousands of options, but she could hardly see any.

_I mean, what's there to do? Sure, I've become a good trainer, but I never really wanted to be a Gym Leader. I wanted to train water Pokémon, to see the world..._

Yes, that was her plan to begin with... Until Ash Ketchum showed up, destroying her bike and messing with each and every plan she has made up until that point in her life. Following _"that stupid kid"_ around had become her life soon enough, and when that was taken away from her, it took her a long time to adjust to her new routine, and an even longer time to admit how badly she missed Ash. Even now, there were days when she'd tell herself that she hates him and never wants to see him again, but then came the days of clarity, when she did not avoid the truth quite as badly.

Truth was, there was only one thing she really _wanted_ - to meet Ash again. But Ash was all the way in Sinnoh (she only knew that because Delia Ketchum kept in touch with her - Ash hasn't called), and she has pledged that she would not show him that she cares, after his rather careless reaction to her departure. That also meant she would never attempt to contact him.

_"Your bike's fixed, so you can get home fast!"_ she thought, _Yeah, thanks, Ash. 'cause I totally want to go home, when I'm so obviously stuck on you. How blind can he be?_

She decided to go to the beach. The beach in Cerulean was a quiet, beautiful place, one she loved to visit when she had to take a moment to think. And there was a lot to think about.

She could pursue her dream of becoming the world's greatest water Pokémon trainer, but traveling alone did not appeal to her quite as much after she has spent so much time traveling with friends. She could remain in Cerulean and assist her sisters - but she felt she has spent more than enough time doing just that, and it was time to start living her own life. She was 17, and although her dreams remained next to unchanged ever since she and Ash had become "_friends_", she knew that making them come true required two. _It takes two to tango... or fall in love, _she thought, as she kicked off her shoes and walked through the sandy beach barefoot, enjoying the light breeze and the feeling of warm sand brushing against her toes.

It doesn't really take two to fall in love, though, she added in her thoughts. She managed to do that without any encouragement, and she could not forget him, no matter how much she wished to believe they were just what he called them - _"best friends". I mean, sure, we're friends all right, but some things make it really... difficult._

It was exactly that friendship that always kept her from saying the words, these words that tickled the tip of her tongue sometimes, when he did not annoy her out of her mind. He always behaved like a complete fool, but it was just that clumsiness that she found strangely irresistible. Ash was such a weird mix of qualities that seemingly did not match. Determined, clumsy, caring, ignorant, loyal, dense... She would always yell at him and argue with him, but deep down inside she found his imperfection charming.

Yet, Misty wasn't stupid. She kept it all to herself, even when she could no longer deny the fact that Ash Ketchum has become the center of her very own, tiny universe. She still fought it sometimes, but after they parted ways, instead of fighting it, she often allowed herself to dream and wish and hope, even if she knew it was all in vain. After all, Ash had dreams and goals of his own, and she didn't think she was included in any of them.

He had his eyes set on his only goal, and never tore them away from it. That was one of the things she admired about him - his endless determination - but at the same time, she despised that trait of his, too. If he could just look past badges and notice her for just a moment!

_What do I even want? _she asked herself, _Perhaps I always wanted him to notice..._

It was much too late to ponder such things, though. Over three years ago they parted their ways, and although she has seen him twice since then, it wasn't the same. He traveled with a new group of friends back then - with Brock, May and her brother Max. After his journey in the Hoenn region, he did not rest for long - instead, he went to Sinnoh, and she hasn't seen him since then.

She wondered if he ever thought about her at all... she thought about him everyday, but that didn't mean anything, did it? No. It didn't.

_Ash... I wish I could see you again, _she thought with a heavy sigh, as she sat down on the warm sand and watched the calm waves of the sea come and go in the same, old, peaceful pattern; the sight that always brought her serenity. Yeah, today would be one of those days; days when dreams and reality were the same thing...

**~~oOo~~**

In her distracted and dreamy state, she did not notice the familiar figure approaching her until she heard her name called out. Even then, lost in her thoughts of Ash, it was his voice that she heard - that boyish, cheerful voice - but when she turned around to face the person, she realized she must have been hallucinating, because the person calling her name was Tracey. That same Tracey that traveled with them during Ash's adventures on the Orange Islands, and later on became Professor Oak's assistant. He was a semi-frequent visitor at the Cerulean Gym, as the distance between Cerulean and Pallet was not at all big, and Professor Oak often sent him in the area on various errands, as well as to just help Misty out around the Gym. She smiled at the sight of her old friend, although she did not wish for the company, but she did want a distraction.

"Hey, Tracey!" she said as she stood when he had approached her.

"How are you doing, Misty? Professor Oak sent me here to bring you some more food for the Pokémon at the Cerulean Gym, and Daisy told me you'd be here. She told me you are no longer leading the gym! Is that true?" he said in one breath, making the words blend with one another, forcing Misty to struggle to understand him. Once she did, she nodded slowly.

"Yeah, my sisters decided that they want to lead the gym again."

"And you gave up your leadership, just like that?" he inquired with a small frown.

"Well, no... but... I never really wanted to lead the Gym," she admitted, "I wanted to keep travelling, to explore the world, meet new friends..." she cut off abruptly and looked away, back at the sea. Tracey nodded in understanding and placed his hand on her shoulder in a comforting gesture, which made her look his way once again. They all matured over the years, and Tracey was no different - he grew taller and slightly more muscular, many would call him a handsome young man. Misty barely noticed that, though - she could not bring herself to care about any other boy, as long as her memories were full of Ash.

She thanked him for the delivery and invited him to the gym for some tea. They begun walking side by side through the sunlit streets of Cerulean, chatting about things that were hardly significant, but worked well as a conversation filler. As they were approaching the gym, Tracey looked up to marvel at the changes Misty had made during her time as the Gym Leader, and then turned his eyes back to his friend.

"Won't you miss being a gym leader?" he asked, and she gave him a small smile in reply.

"I think I will, but I'm used to missing things by now," she replied mysteriously. He didn't comment on it.

"Wouldn't they let you keep the Gym if you wanted to?"

She looked at him quizzically.

"I'm pretty sure they would, but I think this isn't so bad. I'll find something else to do."

"I'm sure you will, Misty," he smiled, then asked again, "What's the plan now, then?"

She hoped he wouldn't ask, and her expression once again turned slightly sour.

"I'm not quite sure yet," Misty answered after a moment of silence.

"Why don't you just travel with Ash again?"

Misty turned red at the question; he surely managed to find her soft spot. In an attempt to save her dignity and keep her secret hidden, she faked a laugh and moved forward, entering the gym before Tracey did, hoping her heartbeat was not as audible as it seemed to be.

"Ash? Why would I want to travel with that idiot? Who knows where he even is!" she laughed, and quickly motioned for him to make himself at home, as she went to prepare some tea.

_Gee, Tracey sure asks a lot of questions, _she thought to herself while boiling water, _Fairly accurate questions, too. He really does understand both people and Pokémon well._

They spent about half an hour on casual conversation; Tracey kindly avoided at least some of the questions which she would rather not answer. When her sister Daisy came back, she immediately snatched Tracey under the excuse of showing him their brand new aquarium. Misty smiled to herself as she bid her farewells to her old friend; it was not hard to notice that Daisy really grew to like Tracey. Misty did not doubt for a second that if Daisy would set her eyes on the boy, she'd get what she wanted. _Perhaps she already did_, Misty thought, as she noted the small blush on Tracey's face, combined with a sincere smile.

Her sisters always got everything they wished for and more; what a contrast between their life and her own.

_Why don't I ever get what I want? _she thought to herself, sighing heavily.

She really needed a distraction. _Ash Ketchum... Where are you?_

**~~oOo~~**

Skyscrapers, four Pokémon centers, hundreds of cars and a lot of noise - those words pretty much summed up the city they had reached after about an hour of walking - or in Ash's case, forty-five minutes of running. The city was very large, nothing like the place they were headed for - Vermillion, which was a calm, picturesque town. Ash remembered how Misty called Vermillion _romantic _multiple times, and he suddenly longed to see it again; to look at the place with this brand new point of view, to see if he would find something he could relate to her somehow.

The city harbor was also a very large facility, crowded with people, Pokémon and baggage, a place where getting lost was not at all out of the question. Even Ash's confidence wavered under such an amount of people, and the group froze, looking around in confusion, until Brock moved ahead and decided to take lead.

"Stick with me, or we will get lost," Brock commanded, and for once, not even one of them disagreed. The young man led the group through the crowd steadily until they reached the ticket booths, always making sure they all followed and kept close. It was a relief for Ash, one more step along the way, but the line to purchase tickets was enormous, and the wait was more than enough to tickle his infamous impatience.

The hour they had spent there was filled with Dawn's complaints, Gary's endless mocking and Brock's charmed chatter - he met a beautiful girl standing in front of them in the line, who was also headed for Kanto, so he would not let the opportunity slide. The years have not changed Brock in this aspect.

"The stars pale in comparison to you," he kept repeating, along with a few similar phrases. Ash sighed heavily.

"Misty would know how to bring him back to Earth, don't you think, Pikachu?" he whispered to his little friend, and the Pokémon nodded eagerly in reply. Misty had her ways with everyone, if not by persuasion, then by force. Ash shuddered at the memory of her huge mallet, at the same time realizing that he missed seeing her mad. She looked adorable with a frown on her face... He never knew whether he should be laughing or running for his life; in the end, he did neither, he simply argued back.

Finally, their turn came, and all of them purchased the tickets for a ship to Kanto, departing two hours whence. Nearly all of Ash's money was spent on this trip, and he wasn't sure how he would get back to Sinnoh, but he decided not to worry about it for the time being. The only thing on his mind was seeing Misty again. From now on, every hour would only bring him closer to meeting the _beautiful_ fiery redhead again. _Wait, did I just call her beautiful? _he thought, _That's right... I thought of her as "adorable" just a few moments ago, too! What am I thinking?!  
_

Would she agree to travel with him again? What if the trip is all in vain? Perhaps she did not want to leave Cerulean, or had different plans, or simply didn't wish to continue their journey together...

Even so, Ash was determined to try.

As they finally boarded the ship and departed from Sinnoh, only one thought lingered in the young trainer's mind.

_Misty, I swore I'll see you again. And I will..._

**~~oOo~~**

**S.S. ANNE III**

It was the second day they had spent abroad the S.S. ANNE III, which meant they still had five more days to go. After having spent time by the pool, located on the main deck of the magnificent ship, and even having attended a small concert hosted in the so-called ballroom, the group of friends each went their separate ways to do what they felt like doing at the time.

Ash, feeling lost in his own confusing thoughts, took his faithful Pikachu to the back of the ship and stood near the railing, looking at the reflections of the setting sun in the salty waters of the ocean. Misty always said that the ocean calmed her, and he too had experienced it. Just because he was determined to pursue his new goal did not mean he was not scared of failure; such a fear was always there when trying something new, and this had been entirely new - something he may have dreamed of in the past, but nothing that he ever considered possible. He was impatient, restless, worried, scared, and the longing to see his best friend grew with each passing mile.

"Just five more days, Pikachu, and we'll be in Kanto," he spoke in a coarse voice; he hasn't said much these past few hours, which was rather uncharacteristic for the young man. Pikachu climbed up on the railing, and Ash laughed softly, reaching for the Pokémon and hugging him in order to assure his safety.

"Whoa, watch out there, buddy," he said, patting Pikachu's head. The Pokémon squealed happily.

"Still being all mushy, Ashy-boy?" came the all too familiar voice from behind him. He turned around with a sour expression.

"I'm not mushy," Ash said with a hint of annoyance, "Don't you have anything better to do than bother me all day?"

"What could be better than annoying the future husband of _Misty Ketchum?_" Gary asked with a smirk on his face. The words had the expected effect - Ash turned all shades of red and crossed his arms, looking away with an angry expression.

"You know _nothing,_" he growled in reply.

"Seriously, why don't you just admit that you like her?" his old rival asked in a more serious tone, standing next to Ash and looking at the ocean. Ash turned his eyes back to Gary with that same annoyed expression, although his words moved the boy in a way.

"I mean, you're going to go there and ask her to travel with you, and still won't tell her?" Gary continued, "I don't really get it. You're a chicken!" he stuck his tongue out at Ash, like he did back when they were kids.

"Oh yeah? You're about as dangerous as a Jigglypuff, so you shouldn't be the one to call me a chicken!"

"If I liked a girl, I would tell her straight out, the moment I realized it," Gary replied in a serious tone of voice, making Ash open his mouth in surprise.

"Realized what?" came the female voice from behind them. Dawn decided to seek them out.

"Err, nothing," Ash replied a bit too quickly, putting his arm behind his head in his famous gesture, "Where's Brock?"

"Still stalking that poor girl," Dawn shrugged. What a contrast between her and Misty, Ash thought. "Are you excited to see Misty?" she asked curiously.

"Of course. It's been a long time."

"What is she like?"

Ash thought for a moment with a small smile on his lips.

"Stubborn and at annoying at times, then other times she'll be sweet and caring... So yeah, she's kinda confusing. She loves the water, the ocean, swimming..." he answered after some time, and reached in his pocket to produce the lure Misty had given him. Dawn eyed the little token of friendship with slight jealously.

"How sweet of her to give you this as something to remember her by," she commented bitterly.

"I don't need anything to remember her by," Ash said softly, "I remember her anyway."

Dawn said nothing more, she simply turned to the ocean and observed the waves, as did Gary; Ash kept his eyes on the lure for a short while, leaning against the railing. The three friends, although more mature with every year, were still as clueless as ever when it came to certain things.

**~~oOo~~**

At long last, the very last day abroad S.S. ANNE III came, finding Ash once again as impatient as ever. His restlessness did not allow him to sit still for too long, nor did it allow him to socialize; for that reason, he was seeking solitude, desperately trying to get his mind off of the things that mattered the most, but completely unable to do so. He lied on the small bed in his cabin, once more lost in his own thoughts.

He spent hours imagining Misty's reaction to his request, and pondered all possible scenarios, slowly realizing that all of Gary's teasing must have gotten to him. _Your girlfriend Misty,_ Gary repeated day by day, as if programmed to do so. Anyone would lose their mind if constantly nagged like this, and Ash decided that he must be doing just the same thing. He was always well aware of the fact that he liked Misty very much, but how could the thought of rejection suddenly take his breath away?

"I _like_ you," he said to himself, very quietly, tasting the words on his tongue as if they were some sort of an exotic, perhaps poisonous, meal. He shook his head. Somehow, the word seemed didn't fit, like the shirts he used to wear years ago; it was inadequate in a way. The young man frowned slightly. "Not like I'd ever say anything like that to her, anyway," he dismissed his own thoughts, but they stubbornly lingered, bothering him constantly.

What if there was another word, a word more capable of describing the feelings he was no longer able to deny? He sat up abruptly.

"I'm a fool," he said out loud, "She is my best friend."

The word _friend _suddenly took on a bitter shade, now it too seemed rather inadequate. How could he call her a friend for all these years and never notice that it was such a weak, lame word?

Another word?

With a deep breath, he gave an attempt at using the first word that came to his mind.

"I... I... I'm... in... _love_? with... you...?..." he stammered quietly, turning visibly red immediately. Finally, the word did not leave him with the sour feeling of being a huge understatement, but it seemed as unfamiliar as a desert would be to a polar bear - it was an unexplored land, one that he did not know his way around at all.

"Gah! What is wrong with me!" Ash smashed his fist against the pillow, and then dove in to hide his red face, trying hard to repress the thoughts of Misty's possible reaction to such a confession, and failing miserably. The words stuck with him, clung to him, and he knew more than well they would not let him be - over the past few days, he realized better than ever that sometimes, his mind just has a way of its own, and much like Misty, some thoughts never leave his side until they were done bothering him, which in this case meant _never._

A knock on the door sounded in the room, startling the boy slightly. The cabin door had opened to reveal Brock, standing there with a quizzical expression.

"Ash, you can't sit here all day," he begun, but Ash cut him off mid-sentence.

"You sound like my mom. She'd always say that when I watched TV for too long," he said lightly, hoping to conceal the remains of a blush on his face.

Brock smiled and sat down on the bed next to his friend, leaning against the plain white cabin wall with a dreamy expression. Ash, not being as insightful as most people, eyed him with curiosity.

"What's up, Brocko?"

"It's Katrina," he responded, bringing some understanding to Ash. Of course, if it's Brock, it has to be about girls. "She's everything that's perfect in a woman!" Brock continued in a blissful tone of voice. Despite being 22 years old, he was still what you may call rather hopeless; he fell in love on daily basis, and never gave up the idea of finding a girl who would return his affections.

"Oh yeah?" Ash asked without an ounce of interest, but his friendship with Brock made him at least attempt to look like he cared. Meanwhile, he kept pondering things related to their trip to Kanto... and Misty.

"Completely! She is beautiful, intelligent, charming, sweet, patient, kind... but I am not good enough for her, there is no chance she would ever want me too... Don't you agree, Ash?" Brock asked in a pained voice.

"Yeah, of course," Ash replied in his distraction, but Brock's expression told him he wasn't listening carefully enough, and that his answer was the exact opposite of what Brock wanted to hear. Oops.

"I mean... I mean..." he tried hard to remember what it was that Brock said, "I mean, of course you are good enough!" Phew. Crisis averted, Brock smiled widely and asked if Ash really thought so. This time, the boy was sensible enough to heartily agree.

After a moment of silence, Brock escaped his daydreaming state just enough to turn his eyes to Ash. He quickly noted the absent expression on his younger friend's face.

"You can't wait to be there, huh?" came the question, snapping Ash out of his distraction.

"Yeah," he nodded with a smile; Ash knew that around Brock, he could be just a little bit more honest. His friend has always been nothing short of an older brother to him, and even though he wouldn't admit just _how _much he liked Misty (did _he_ even know that? Not really), he wouldn't try to conceal his excitement, either.

"I haven't seen Misty for such a long time! Even longer than you," Brock continued.

"It's been too long," Ash's countenance visibly brightened as he eagerly agreed.

"I wonder, how is she doing?" his friend wondered, as if to himself, secretly hoping to get Ash talking.

"She's great, I think; when I saw her, she'd been a successful gym leader," Ash's reply had a nostalgic tint to it, as if he was happy for her, but generally sad all the same.

"What are you going to say to her?"

"Huh?" Ash blushed deeply, suddenly recalling his earlier thoughts, and the words he had actually spoken during his tentative attempts of expressing his unnamed feelings.

"When we arrive in Cerulean..." Brock explained with growing curiosity.

"Well, I... I..." he stuttered, but was surprisingly relieved of the burden of replying to that question by Gary barging in.

"Guys! Dawn fainted, they took her to the doctor's cabin!" Gary cried upon entering, and the other two young men immediately stood at attention. "We must go see her!" he exclaimed, and Ash and Brock nodded, following him out of the cabin.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Thank you soooo much for your reviews to those that reviewed, and thank you for reading to everybody else! Here's another long chapter, I hope you enjoy - let me know what you think!

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokemon or any of the characters. The whole franchise belongs to Nintendo.  
**

**~~oOo~~  
**

"Dawn fainted?! Why?!" Ash shouted, following Gary and Brock at a fast pace.

"I don't know! I have no idea what happened!" Gary responded, visibly shaken.

The distress was unusual for Gary, but they didn't give it much thought at the time. They ran across the large, luxurious ship, followed by Ash's faithful Pikachu, passing all the passengers, ranging from couples in love to parents with their children to Pokémon trainers; they ran as fast as the lack of space in the corridors allowed, all three of them very worried about their friend.

Upon entering the doctor's cabin, they found an old man sitting beside Dawn, who was lying on a hospital cot, clearly asleep. Her skin was pale, but her breaths seemed even; she did not appear to be in distress.

The man turned out to be the main doctor abroad S.S. ANNE III. He stood when the three boys had entered and greeted them, introducing himself as Doctor Myers.

"Doctor, what is wrong with Dawn? Is she going to be alright?" Brock asked with concern.

"Worry not, young gentlemen, your friend is going to be fine, just fine, I promise," Doctor Myers responded in a foreign accent that they couldn't quite place, "I suspect she may have pushed herself a little too hard at the pool, as well as spent too much time out in the sun! According to our passengers, she spent the whole day swimming, and finally passed out when she left, the poor soul. Poor thing, indeed. But, worry not, she needs to rest, that is all. She should be up and running by the time we arrive in Vermillion City, that, my dear boys, is certain!" he assured them, while looking at the results of Dawn's examination, nodding now and again in approval.

"So she will be fine?" Gary pressed, seeking more reassurance. The whole group looked at Dawn with worried eyes.

"Yes, yes, worry not, young man. You may sit with her if you wish; I shall return in two hours. If anything happens, press the button to call a nurse!" with that, the doctor left, patting Gary on the shoulder, leaving the three friends assured, but concerned nevertheless.

"Strange guy," Ash commented, sitting down in one of the chairs, allowing Pikachu to climb up the small, seemingly uncomfortable bed and pat Dawn's cheek in a friendly manner.

"Pika! Chu..." Pikachu squirmed, feeling worried about Dawn.

"I thought Dawn didn't like swimming," Brock wondered, sitting down in the chair next to Ash.

"There are _things_ that may make one want to swim," Gary said, once again in his usual, sarcastic tone, but the others did not catch on to the hidden meaning behind the words.

**~~oOo~~**

The young men watched over their sleeping friend together for a while, but when the night has fallen, they decided it'd be best to take turns; Brock insisted that it would be unwise to leave her alone, as she surely would be surprised when she woke up, finding herself in a strange room in the middle of the night, and a friendly face would only help her through such a moment.

They drew matches to see who gets to stay first, while the others take a nap, and Ash was the loser, having to stay up and watch over Dawn first. He bid his good bye's to Brock and Gary, then sat back down in the extremely uncomfortable chair, with Pikachu snuggled up in his lap.

"Well, Pikachu, it looks like our last night here is going to be a long one, huh?" he whispered, petting the electric mouse.

"Chaa!" Pikachu squirmed happily and snuggled up in his master's lap, ready to sleep, leaving Ash alone with his thoughts.

_Why would Dawn exhaust herself like that? _he wondered, watching over her with a frown of confusion and worry, looking at her sleeping face, trying to find the answer. Dawn was not a very close friend of his; truth be told, she usually got on his nerves, but she was still a friend and they've been through many things on their short journey together. He found himself wishing he could help her somehow, but his mind was blank; how do you help someone that you don't even know all that well? He hoped she would be okay, regardless of their frequent fights and arguments... Which brought him back to thinking of Misty. _Misty and I argued every single day, but it wasn't annoying, like with Dawn. In the end, she always had my back._

His thoughts begun to wander once more, and he found himself wondering about the nature of his feelings for Misty - if there were any. His mind had become a rollercoaster as of late, and he couldn't quite keep up with his racing thoughts, unknown emotions, unnamed wishes.

An hour has passed without a sound, but he finally heard a stir, and his eyes immediately turned back to Dawn, who was just waking up. He moved to sit beside her bed, and smiled as he noticed her lift herself up on her elbows and look around in confusion, her eyes opening wide as she finally noticed Ash's presence.

She shook her head in confusion, and then sat up on the bed, proceeding to smooth out the loose strands of hair that got into her eyes.

"Ash...? Where am I?"

"You're at the doctor's cabin. You fainted, but the doctor says you'll be just fine!" he explained with a reassuring smile.

"Pika!" Pikachu added happily, jumping onto her bed and patting her hand in a friendly gesture.

"Oh... Where are the others?"

"We decided to take turns watching over you, y'know, so that you don't get scared or something, when you wake up, you know," he replied.

Dawn frowned slightly at his explanation and lied back in bed, looking at the plain white ceiling with sudden interest. She faintly recalled the hours before she must have passed out, watching the events as if hidden behind a fog. _A mist, _she thought as her frown deepened.

Sudden resolve appeared in her eyes, although Ash of course didn't notice; she turned her eyes to him once more and called out his name, as if presenting a challenge. He looked at her questioningly.

"You know why I went swimming, the entire day, even though I was exhausted?" she asked. Ash shook his head in response, and she continued with that same determination in her voice, although seemingly not making any sense, "Misty's a good swimmer, isn't she?"

"Yeah, she is, but what does that have to do with anything?" Ash asked in confusion. Dawn bolted straight up, sitting in bed, glaring at her friend.

"I wanted to be more like her! So that you would notice me too!" she cried in desperation, and then continued in a calmer, although sad, tone: "I can't believe you haven't noticed that I like you... More than just as a friend..." with a frown, she looked down at her own shaking hands, hoping to conceal the small salty drops of tears that appeared within her eyes. Ash stared at her, dumbfounded, shocked and most of all, uncomfortable. He didn't know what to say, and all of this came as a surprise to him; a surprise he did not wish for, or ever even consider plausible... No, he just didn't think of it at all, so even if he could ever consider it possible, the possibility just never crossed his mind.

Ash looked away, feeling awkward and wanting to escape, but also knowing that this was something he'd have to see through to the end - he has matured enough over the years to realize that escape was often the worst possible way of dealing with things. For that reason, he took a deep breath, and prepared himself internally for all the things that were about to come.

"Dawn, I... I don't..." he stammered, but was interrupted by Dawn herself, who composed herself and looked directly into his eyes once again, this time with a smile; a smile that did not reach her eyes, creating a rather sad, strangely emotionless expression.

"I know. You love Misty, don't you?" Ash's eyes opened wide at the question, and a small blush appeared on his face. "You may be blind, but I'm not, Ash! I'm not stupid!"

He did not confirm nor deny her assumptions, but she didn't expect him to, either.

"The only reason I'm telling you this, is because I realized I don't have a chance, whether I change or not," she continued, "It'll pass, I've only felt this way for a short time..."

"D...Dawn, I'm sorry... I don't know about Misty, but I just... I don't..." he was just about to say that he doesn't feel the same way, but she interrupted him, again.

"Don't say it. I know you don't like me that way. That is why I will do my best to forget you," she explained, "I don't know if I will keep travelling with you or not, time will show, but I will always be your friend," she went silent for a moment, "Aah, I feel so free!" she laughed and wiped away her tears, took a big breath and looked at Ash with an honest smile; a smile she hasn't showed for the past few weeks. "Ash! You need to get Misty back! Don't disappoint me! I believe in you!" she exclaimed, and Ash simply nodded, finally able to smile back at her.

"Thanks, Dawn," he said with gratitude. He was thankful - for their rocky friendship, for her understanding and her faith in him. As for Dawn, she felt relieved. She has always struggled with making decisions, but once one was made, she was able to move on and follow a new route quickly. She was resolved to forget, and she knew that she will, eventually.

A moment later, a soft knock on the door announced that Brock was there to take over his "shift". He happily noticed that Dawn is awake, and due to how focused he was on his recovering friend, he easily missed the awkward but liberated expression on Ash's face as he left the room, leaving Dawn and Brock alone.

Ash quickly shut the door behind him and leaned against it, breathing deeply. The conversation with Dawn - although not really pleasant - made him realize one thing, and that was something he would cherish and hold on to.

He realized that no matter the outcome, he should always try. And try he will. He will do his very best to bring Misty back.

**~~oOo~~**

**VERMILLION CITY**

Sun shone brightly in the clear blue sky when the ship finally docked in Vermillion City. The city had not changed from the last time Ash had visited it years ago - it was still the picturesque, serene place he had remembered, full of small alleys, cafes conveniently placed right by the sea, and magnificent, old buildings, giving the town an old-time vibe, as if it stood still, while the bigger cities moved on. In a way, it also reminded him of Cerulean City. Cerulean City...

_Misty, I'll be there soon! _he thought to himself as the group left the dock and entered the city.

As doctor Myers had promised, Dawn had recovered swiftly and was all better by the time they arrived in Vermillion; Ash was surprised to see her running about, looking rather cheerful in the morning. She didn't really pay him any attention, but he thought that was a good thing, as he still felt awkward after their conversation the previous night. Ash's guilty feelings bothered him greatly, though, but he was happy to see her seemingly liberated of her worries, and even her constant complaints have declined by a lot. Ash sighed with relief at the sight of his friend; it seemed like she would be okay, after all.

"She'll be fine, right, Pikachu?" he asked his little friend quietly, all the while looking at Dawn. Pikachu nodded reassuringly, and Ash smiled at the little electric rodent.

Ash wasn't great at reading personalities, but he never thought of Dawn as weak, even though he called her whiny on more than one occasion. No, she was strong, and he instinctively sensed that the only way to help her through this, would be to stay out of her way for a while. Besides, he was so close to reaching the destination of his journey - he could hardly stand still from his overwhelming excitement and anxiety.

"Come on, you guys! We've got to move!" he whined, as his friends stopped here and there, looking at all the shop displays all along the street. Dawn was the most impressed of them all, by far - she had never been to Kanto before, and she admired every little thing she had found, as if yesterday's conversation with Ash did not bother her at all.

"Did you see that beautiful chapel? Oh, look at that! Look at the sea!" Dawn kept exclaiming, running from one place to another in a frantic fit of excitement.

"Dawn, please!" Ash begged hopelessly.

"Someone is excited," Brock commented, looking at Dawn and Ash.

"Leave her be, Ash, an hour won't save ya. Misty still won't want to be your girlfriend!" Gary teased, and Ash blushed furiously, as was his daily habit as of late.

"GARY!" Ash shouted in reply, muttering angry words under his breath.

"Naaw, so cute, little Ashy-boy is blushing," Gary kept teasing in a baby voice, as annoying Ash was his favorite thing.

Meanwhile, Brock returned to dragging one foot after the other and sulking over Katrina's departure. His newest crush had gone to Celadon City to visit her family, and who knew if he'd ever see her again.

"Katrina... No other woman can ever match her beauty," he sighed heavily, being a living contrast walking next to Dawn, who kept happily chirping about how beautiful Vermillion is, and Gary, who kept being sarcastic about everything even remotely related to Ash.

"At least not until the next Pokemon Center, huh, Brock?" Gary joked.

"Have you seen that cafeteria? It's so adorable! Oh, look at that fountain! And at the little Growlithe!"

"Adorable? Katrina was adorable! I should have followed her to Celadon..."

"What's up, Ashy-boy? You look a bit down, have you finally realized that no girl would ever date a loser like you? _Pikachu_ is more likely to get a girlfriend than you!"

It was too much, way past Ash's limits. To be so close to the end of their journey, and yet get delayed by such stupid things!

"GUYS! GIVE ME A BREAK! LET'S GO!" Ash shouted in desperation, finally receiving the attention of the group, "Come on, you know how important this is to me, we can't waste time, guys!" he pleaded in a calmer tone. His friends exchanged quick glances and finally nodded in agreement, allowing Brock to lead them through the streets of Vermillion, and out on the way to Cerulean City.

As they were about to leave the city and head out on the road, Dawn stopped in her tracks and looked down to the ground. The group of friends eyed her with curiosity, which, after a moment of silence, she had sated.

"Dawn? Something wrong?" Gary asked in a voice that was unusually filled with concern, "Are you okay?"

"Do you want to sit down for a while?" Ash inquired.

"No, no, I'm okay!" she protested, "But, you know what, I'd like to stick around and see Vermillion for a little while longer," she explained in a quiet voice, "Why don't you go ahead, and pick me up on your way back from Cerulean?" she asked, attempting to sound more cheerful.

"Don't you want to see Cerulean?" Brock asked, "It's a beautiful town, and I'm sure Misty will give us a tour of the gym,"

"I'm fine, I just want a break," she explained, and Brock nodded in reply.

Ash looked at Dawn with a degree of understanding. This probably had something to do with her feeling uncomfortable around him after last night. He felt even more guilty and didn't say anything else, but Gary did.

"Do you want some company?" Gary asked out of the blue, making Ash look at him in astonishment. Gary was the last person to ever care about any thing past the tip of his own nose, after all. Dawn gave him a warm smile in reply.

"No, thanks," she shook her head, "I'm fine. Go ahead and meet me at the local Pokémon Center when you return to Vermillion,"

"We planned to stop by Pallet too, though..." Ash spoke quietly, avoiding looking at Dawn.

"Then I'll just meet you there!" Dawn decided, "I'll leave Vermillion two days from now, and meet up with you in Pallet. Don't worry, I'll find my way!" she winked, and begun walking away briskly, waving back at her friends.

"Dawn!" Ash shouted after she had walked away a fair bit, "Are you sure you'll be okay?" his voice was filled with concern and guilt. She froze and turned back, then gave him an honest, reassuring smile.

"Don't you worry, Ash!" she replied, then started running back into the streets of Vermillion, as the three friends watched her go, until she had disappeared.

"Girls... I'll never understand them," Brock shook his head, as they begun walking to Cerulean at a steady pace. All three were slightly worried about Dawn, but she was energetic this morning and didn't go through any exertion. Perhaps it was for the better that she didn't tag along for the walk to Cerulean, which was bound to take several hours, Ash thought with increasing excitement. Let the stupid walk take however many hours are needed, as long as he finally gets there in the end!

_It won't be long, Misty, _he thought to himself, _it won't be long till I will finally see you again. What will you say?_

Meanwhile, Dawn walked back towards Vermillion City with her eyes stuck to the ground. No one would see the lonely tear that made its way down her cheek, and no one would know, that even if she _did_ feel liberated, her heart was aching regardless.

**~~oOo~~**

**CERULEAN CITY**

"My life is so boring, Corsola..." Misty whined, "I need to get back on the road. I've gotta plan things out as soon as I can," she added decidedly.

They had the pool to themselves for once, as the visiting hours have not begun yet, so the magnificent waters of the Cerulean Gym were theirs to explore. The only problem was, Misty knew every inch of the pool like the palm of her own hand, and even swimming could not make her settle that day. Her mind had been a mess over the past few days, and there was no good solution to it. She was restless.

She pulled herself up gracefully, leaving the pool and calling Corsola back to the pokéball, then dried her hair with her favorite pink towel and made her way out, walking carefully, as the floor was rather slippery. As she turned to exit the pool and walk into the service corridor, which led to their private rooms, she bumped into no one else than Tracey. They both blushed slightly, Misty more than Tracey, considering her rather incomplete outfit - she wore a blue bikini with a towel around her neck, and a pair of slippers. At the sight of her friend, she quickly took the towel and wrapped it around her body in an attempt to cover up.

"T...Tracey! What are you doing here?" _Didn't he just leave like a week ago?_

"Misty! I was looking for Daisy..." he admitted, looking down to the floor, easily confirming Misty's earlier assumptions - Daisy really always got what she wanted, and Tracey would be no exception.

"You came all the way from Pallet? Again?" she shook her head in disbelief, and then pointed down the service corridor. "She's probably in her room. She spent too much time sunbathing and is trying to avoid turning into a tomato."

"Oh, thanks!" Tracey replied cheerfully and started heading that way, but he suddenly remembered something. "How are you doing today?" he asked. Misty frowned slightly.

"Fantastic," she replied in an irritated tone, then excused herself; she wanted to go get dressed. Tracey nodded eagerly and ran ahead in search of Daisy.

Later on, as Misty changed in her room, she pondered what she was now certain was taking place - Daisy and Tracey.

"So Daisy and Tracey..." she thought out loud, "Strange. I actually think that could work. He's patient and obedient, no one else could live with Daisy," she concluded, sitting down on the bed in her shorts and green shirt.

She lied back on the bed, spreading her arms wide, breathing deeply and thinking about thousands of different things. When all her thoughts of the past, present and future brought her nothing but frustration, she decided to go for a walk. Something, anything to not just sit there all day, doing nothing at all.

She left the gym and went out into the hot summer air, walking briskly, determined to escape her thoughts, even if just for a while.

When she felt down, she liked to humor herself with daydreaming. When the dreams ended and she fell back into reality, she scolded herself for doing it; she knew it was not the right way to go, but right now, she didn't care. She once again drifted into thoughts of the one person she really missed. _Stupid Ash... _she thought, but truth was, she couldn't help daydreaming about "_Stupid Ash"._

She begun imagining how it would be if they'd see each other again. He would run up to her, with that big, charming smile of his, and that spark in his chocolate-brown eyes. She'd marvel at how manly he had grown, and he'd say she looks beautiful, and that he missed her...

"Okay, now I'm getting carried away," she grumbled, pulling her hair up into her famous pony tail as she walked.

A more realistic vision included them meeting, Ash describing his journeys in that enthusiastic tone of voice that he used when he was really excited or happy about something; Misty telling him about the gym, perhaps giving him a tour, as he hasn't seen it for a long time.

He hasn't seen the changes she had made to the pool, or the new aquarium for their Pokémon, and he certainly _hasn't_ seen the picture of the two of them that she had kept next to her bed, the one she always looked at before she closed her eyes...

She shook her head slightly. _I'm getting carried away, _she sighed and kept on walking, slowly approaching the road out of Cerulean. Deciding it wouldn't hurt to prolong her walk a little bit more, she walked on in the summer sun, completely unprepared for what was about to come.

**~~oOo~~**

**THE ROAD TO CERULEAN**

_We're almost there! We're *almost* there! _Ash kept shouting in his thoughts, unknowingly walking faster and faster, leaving his two tired companions quite far behind. For once in his life, his senses did not allow him to get lost! He walked the path with a strange certainty, unwilling to waste even a minute of time.

He would finally see Misty, and perhaps then, things would get clearer. Maybe then he'd stop feeling so clueless, so stupid, so lost?

The thought of her name alone sent him into a strange state of mind; one that he remembered from the days when he first thought that she may be _more_ than just a friend. She had left afterwards, and the sensation turned into missing her, which he felt everyday. The feelings, rather than disappearing over time, seemed to grow; grow to the point where he, having no past experience with such things, had extreme difficulty understanding or naming them.

_I tried..._ he thought, once again recalling the moment when the words he thought he'd never say actually escaped his lips, somewhat involuntary. Good thing she wasn't there to hear it.

Or Gary, for that matter.

What if he would say the words to her? What would be her reaction? He could only imagine the anger or shock painted all over her face, or the horrible mallet she would chase him down with...

Or maybe she'd just say she didn't like him and never speak to him again?

He swallowed; no, the risk was too high. To lose her once again would be worse than to never be able to be honest with her.

Wait, honest with her? So it's not just an assumption?

"Gah!" the small groan of frustration caused by his own thoughts escaped his clenched throat as he rushed forward, but luckily, it was heard by nobody else than Pikachu. He turned around to see Gary and Brock fighting to keep up, visibly exhausted, and yelled at them: "Come on! Hurry up!"

"Are we running...a...marathon?" Brock panted as he struggled to speak under the heavy weight of his backpack.

"Ashy-boy is running a... marathon... Getting a girlfriend is the prize!" Gary commented, never too tired to tease Ash; unfortunately for Gary, Ash was too preoccupied to actually notice his rival.

The closer he got, the faster he walked, with Pikachu sitting on his shoulder. His heavy backpack suddenly felt light, and although he felt tired, he knew he wouldn't stop until he reached the Cerulean Gym. He was so close to finally seeing her again, and he found his mind slowly going blank, with just her face remaining in his thoughts. He hasn't seen her for such a long time!

After climbing up a small hill, he noticed the familiar outlines of Cerulean City ahead of them, and the extra adrenaline rush kicked in. Ash begun to run rather than walk, for he knew that every step brought him closer to her, closer to Misty. He ran, not looking back at Brock and Gary; _They'll find their way,_ he concluded, as he slowly approached the road leading into Cerulean City.

_Misty! I'm here! I'm in Kanto!_

The road was rather steep, and he found himself running downhill. He could never imagine whom he would meet at the bottom of it...

**What do you think? Let me know! ^_^ **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **Here comes yet another long chapter! Do you feel they are too long? I try to cut them off where it fits, but perhaps it's a bit too much? Either way, I hope you like. Also, let me reveal that this story is nowhere near done, and I will probably write many more chapters before I call it finished. Please let me know if you enjoy the story! ^_^

Also, quick reminder about everybody's age:

Ash: 17

Misty: 17

Brock: 22

Dawn: 16

Gary: 17

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokemon or any of the characters in this story. They all belong to Nintendo.**

**~~oOo~~**

They both didn't realize that they were not alone until the distance between them grew relatively short. He spotted her first and instantly stopped in his tracks as if he had seen a ghost; and not more than twenty seconds later, she too looked up from the ground, only to see him. For her, time had stopped at that very moment; the moment she saw Ash Ketchum again.

She wore a green shirt combined with jeans shorts; her fiery red hair was pulled up in her signature loose side ponytail, tied together with a pin in the shape of a Staryu, her favorite Pokémon.

He wore his usual outfit, which consisted of a simple, black t-shirt, a jacket, a pair of jeans and a hat; although he took off the hat a while back, because it was just too warm to wear one. Normally, he would complain about the warmth, but in that one moment, nothing else mattered. Literally. Ash was certain that not only his muscles remained frozen; his heartbeat seemed to stop for a while, too, as if trying not to interrupt the sight before his eyes, the chance to hear her speak. It was her. It really was her.

Misty!

_This_ was what he came here for, but the sensation exceeded every single expectation he might have ever had. To see her right there, before his eyes... All of his plans of greeting her were ruined by this element of surprise, but subconsciously, he was thankful for it, because not meeting her there would mean more time spent away from her, and he felt the pain of that now more than ever before.

_This_ was what she daydreamed of, only this time, it wasn't a hallucination. Or was it? Misty couldn't tell. She couldn't be sure. She has imagined this exact scenario so many times, replayed it so many times over in her head, that she couldn't swear that it wasn't just a mirage, an oasis in the middle of the desert conjured by a thirsty, exhausted mind.

They both froze, looking at one another with shock, with just one thought running through their minds:

_Am I dreaming?_

Three minutes have passed, but they felt like a couple of seconds; a flash of surprise followed by two racing heartbeats and two wide open pairs of eyes. Misty didn't dare to move, too scared to break this wonderful, realistic illusion. After all, it couldn't have been reality, could it?

Ash, caught completely off guard, stood still in wonder for what felt like an eternity, but being the more impatient one of them, he finally regained control of his muscles and ran towards her; Pikachu jumped off his shoulder and followed, too.

As he finally snapped out of it, he called out her name, still running towards her.

"Misty!" he shouted in an excited tone, stunning her even more. His voice was different. Deeper. The last time she had heard him, his voice was awkward, sometimes reaching a surprisingly high pitch. She liked to poke fun at him about it, and he always got very upset.

She stood as if frozen, still not moving an inch, looking at him in surprise... No, not surprise, complete shock is more like it. Her mind went blank, and she saw nothing except for his approaching figure, heard nothing except the sound of his voice, an echo which lingered, even if he hasn't said anything but her name.

Four steps later he stopped right in front of her, and before either one of them said anything else, they took the time to notice the changes that the time spent away had made.

They both noticed in surprise that Ash was no longer around Misty's height; no, instead he had to look down to look at her face - he was a head taller than her. She instinctively raised her eyes to look into his, and they both blushed slightly at the contact, finally reacting to the situation, as if the spell that froze them in place had finally been broken.

She looked away, escaping his excited gaze, and looked down again. He wasn't just taller. Constant traveling had shaped his body, making it toned but not overly muscular. His eyes seemed to grow a little darker, and his hair slightly longer, but his haircut remained as messy as it has been all those years ago, and his eyes still had that spark in them which she grew to love... The spark she had missed for the longest time.

While Misty registered all the changes in Ash, he too was looking at her with both curiosity and wonder. She wasn't the girl he used to call scrawny anymore; no, she grew a bit taller, but then again, so did he, which he noted with a hint of pride. She was still slim, but not shapeless or skinny - curved in all the right places, which he couldn't help but notice, being a teenage guy. Her eyes, the eyes he had kept fresh in his memory, surprised him with depth and the amount of emotion poured into them. In the past, he never knew their color. Some days he'd say blue, some days he'd say green.

Now he knew. They were turquoise.

And she was beautiful.

Both remained silent for another moment, but at last, Misty managed to speak. She had to make sure that this wasn't just a dream.

"A...Ash!" she stammered, finally snapping out of her shock, "Is that really you? I can't believe it!" she exclaimed, once again looking up at him to look into his eyes, to find confirmation; the memories of him clashed with reality, merging with the boy that stood right in front of her. This couldn't be a dream, she'd never imagine it so well... Right?

Ash had difficulty speaking; his throat was clenched, his heart was racing, and his thoughts were completely incoherent. The sight of Misty - the sight he missed so much, and the sight that made him come all the way home in the middle of his journey - was breathtaking.

He quickly realized that his memories pale in comparison to the real thing; she was everything he knew so well from his memories and thoughts and more. Her eyes, still locked on his, rendered him completely speechless.

All the pieces of the puzzle suddenly begun to fall into place, as he found himself nearly unable to speak, overcome with emotions he didn't even know existed up that day.

Misty's mind was not in a better state than Ash's - she was confused, overjoyed, surprised, amazed, all of those things at once. She was surprised with how much he had changed, and with how much he _hasn't _changed.

After a moment of not getting a reply, Misty spoke again.

"Ash, what are you doing here? Professor Oak said you were in Sinnoh!" she asked again in her disbelief.

"I... Um..." Ash stammered, finding himself at a loss of words. _C'mon, get yourself together! I had a plan of what I'd say... Where did it go?! _he scolded himself in his thoughts, still unable to utter as much as a syllable, let alone a word or a sentence. She looked at him expectantly, unaware of the tremor within his heart, too focused on concealing her own feelings.

"ASH! WAIT UP!" came the surprisingly welcome yell, relieving Ash of having to answer... For now.

Brock and Gary were struggling to keep up ever since the group left Vermillion, but they finally managed to catch up ever so slightly. They both froze at the sight of Ash and Misty standing together; it was an amusing sight: Ash's face was all red as he stood there, quiet; Misty observed him with surprise and joy, then stood on her toes when she heard them yell to be able to see them past his shoulder. Her eyes opened wide at the sight of Brock and Gary.

"Gary?! Don't tell me he followed you here?" she once more turned to Ash.

"Well... Sort of..." said Ash, internally applauding himself for saying three words without stuttering. _What's wrong with me?!_

Ash's traveling companions finally reached them, both panting in exhaustion. Brock composed himself relatively quickly and greeted Misty by giving her a friendly hug.

"Misty, it's been too long!" he said, visibly happy to see her.

Ash envied his friend in an unexplainable way; he wished he could hug her, too, but he knew that his emotions would betray him if he'd ever try.

"Gary..." she said tentatively, looking at Ash, then at Gary, and back at Ash once again, with an uncertain expression.

"Hey! Ashy-boy has a little secret to revea-..." Gary was interrupted by Ash himself snapping out of his amazement for just a moment - Ash smacked him upside the head instantly, not allowing him to finish the sentence.

Misty stared at them both in extreme confusion, and Ash realized it's time to act. Who knows what else Gary may come up with... He took a deep breath to begin his speech, but Brock beat him to it.

"Hey, why don't we all walk to Cerulean? We're very tired, I want to get some rest at the Pokémon Center," Brock suggested, knowing Ash would rather be alone with Misty when the time comes to ask her the question.

Misty looked at Brock, as if waking up from a dream, and protested immediately.

"You should all stay at the Gym! There's plenty of space... And some food, I assume Ash still eats as much as an elephant?" she asked, trying to keep her tone light, once again moving her gaze to her _best friend. _Her tease, so familiar, reminded him of their old banter, and temporarily put him at ease.

"I always ate less than you!" Ash argued.

"Maybe in your dreams!"

"It's all sweet, but can we get going, then? Little Romeo here made us run like crazy, I'm exhausted!" Gary whined, ever successful in making Ash turn red; what would Misty think of all his comments? Yet she seemed oblivious to it - her nervous state barely allowed her to pay attention to Ash... or rather, anything else than Ash. _What is he doing here?_

"I can't believe you travel with Gary Oak," Misty commented as they all started walking, this time at a normal pace. Ash and Misty walked at the opposite sides of the group, separated by Brock and Gary. Ash was both upset and thankful for the circumstances. He could hardly compose a coherent sentence - hell, he could hardly utter a word - when faced directly with Misty... On the other hand, he longed for an opportunity to be close to her.

"He is lucky to be traveling with me. I'm known all over Kanto!" Gary boasted, looking smugly at Misty.

"Gary likes to follow Ash around and annoy him, don't you remember that?" Brock said, sighing heavily at the weight of his backpack.

"I remember everything," she replied, turning her gaze down to the ground, hoping her hair will conceal the blush that crept up on her cheeks. Ash finally found the courage to look at her briefly, but soon turned away. Being so close to her was too much for him to bear. He needed to gather his own thoughts, to regain the ability to speak. She couldn't know about this, about his feelings, about all the confusion...

"So, Misty, how is the gym?" Brock asked after a moment of silence. Ash shot his friend a thankful glance, and then glued his eyes to the road once again.

"It's... okay," she muttered, leaving Ash to wonder about whether okay is a good thing or a bad thing in this case.

"We saw it on TV. Your sisters are hot," Gary commented, earning himself a slap in the face.

"Don't you DARE come near them, Gary Oak!" she shouted in reply as he rubbed his cheek, which has turned red from the impact.

"Geez, Ashy-boy, is this girl always like this?"

Brock turned towards Ash, curious of his reaction. Ash swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and uttered a few "_Come on, you idiot!_" and similar in his mind before he spoke. That's how hard it was to speak with Misty around. _Just, what the hell is wrong with me?!_

"I think that... that Misty would always defend her sisters from an idiot like you, yeah," he blurted out much too fast, yet they understood him. Gary - surprisingly - laughed out loud in reply.

"Are you trying to be like me, Romeo? Trying to impress the lady? It won't work, you don't have my charm!"

"I'd rather not be a delusional idiot, thanks."

"Or a jerk," added Misty, finally giving Ash a smile, a smile that he had missed so much, more than anything. Making his heart skip a beat. Or two... Definitely not more than three...

He couldn't smile back, but she did notice a certain warmth in his eyes. They both looked away at the same moment.

**~~oOo~~**

The rest of the road was spent on catching up, but not much could be said. They were only about twenty minutes away from the Gym, and soon, they arrived in front of the large building. Ash immediately noticed several changes - how the Gym was much bigger, how there was now a large pool outside with several Pokémon swimming in it, how it has been painted a different set of colors - white and blue instead of the old, colorful pallette.

"Wow, Mist, it looks great!" he exclaimed enthusiastically. The distraction finally allowed him to speak freely.

"Thanks," she replied quietly, then motioned for them to follow, "Come on! Let's get you guys settled in!"

"Sounds like a plan!" Gary shouted, running past them with hopes of lying down on one of the large sofas in the lobby of the Gym; however, his plan backfired, as he ran straight into Tracey.

"Ow..." said Tracey, rubbing his forehead after the impact with Gary.

"Hey, wait, is that you? You're the guy that works for gramps?" Gary asked in surprise.

"Tracey! Long time no see!" Ash said, extending his hand for a handshake. Tracey complied eagerly, surprised to see his old friend.

"Weren't you in Sinnoh?"

"You work with gramps?" Gary asked again.

"Hey, I think we've met before!" Brock said.

"I was in Sinnoh, but now I'm not!"

"What's going on here?" another voice joined in - it was Violet, Misty's older sister.

"DUDE! QUIT IGNORING ME!" Gary demanded. Tracey finally looked at him with an indifferent expression.

"Yeah, Gary Oak. I work with your grandfather. You would have noticed, if you'd ever look at anything apart from your fan girls," he mocked, then turned back to Ash.

"What are you all doing here? Hey, Misty," Tracey continued, looking at the group with an increasing confusion. "Have they come to visit you?"

"I... don't know," she answered, looking at Ash with uncertainty.

"WHAT'S GOING ON!?" Violet shrieked at the top of her lungs, nearly deafening them all, as well as alerting Daisy and Lily, who joined the others quickly.

"What? Isn't that the kid Misty used to follow around?" Lily asked upon seeing Ash.

"I think so," Daisy replied.

"Her _boyfriend!_" Violet chimed in, earning herself a very angry glare from Misty.

"But why are they all here?"

Brock stood in the middle of the group and asked them all to settle down. He wanted to give Ash the chance to explain things to Misty in private, but with this sudden gathering, he knew now was the time.

"Why don't we let Ash explain why we are here?" he asked. Ash swallowed hard, but soon nodded at Brock, and then turned to Misty with a newfound resolve in his eyes.

"I..." he begun, but his throat was clenched, his cheeks burning, his heartbeat so rapid, he felt his heart would soon jump out of his chest.

"Little Ashy-boy is shy," Gary mocked happily, but went quiet when Pikachu sent a small electric shock through his body.

Misty looked Ash straight in the eye, and once again admired the changes the years had made. She found him so tall, perfectly shaped, not so much a boy as a man now. His eyes retained the spark, the depth that she had always admired, but the impulsive kid was somewhat gone in favor of a young man. Somewhat. A little.

She held her breath. What would he say? Why was he here? Surely it has nothing to do with her. Or... Could it be because of her?

Ash felt all the pairs of eyes in the room observed him intensely, and in an instant, he lost all of his courage. What if she said no, in front of all these people? In front of Gary?

"I..." he stuttered again, and then blurted out something he did not mean to say, "I was just passing by on the way to Pallet to visit Mom and Professor Oak..."

Brock, Gary and Pikachu stared at him with their eyes wide open, mouths agape in shock. A small hint of hurt registered on Misty's face, but she tried her best to conceal it; however, Ash still noticed it, or so he thought.

Awkward silence fell for a few moments, before it was broken by Misty.

"Well, why don't you stay the night at the Gym, and then go on down to Pallet?" she suggested, forcing a smile upon her lips. _How could I ever assume that he'd come back for me? He doesn't care about me, I'm just his friend._

Ash looked down at the floor, red with embarrassment, speechless. _How could I say something like that? This is not what I meant to say!_

"That'd be great, Misty," Brock responded after realizing that Ash was not going to reply.

"Then let me show you to your rooms!" she exclaimed with fake energy, and motioned for them to follow.

"I'll see you later, yeah?" Tracey interjected. Brock nodded, once again, in Ash's place, and all three of them followed Misty down the corridor.

Misty, despite her lost hopes, still felt pleased to be able to see Ash, so she tried her best not to appear disappointed. To make things easier, she led Ash to a room first; the best guest room of the Gym. Having him out of sight for a few moments made her charade easier to keep up. She then proceeded to accommodate Gary in a room the size of a broom closet, to which he abruptly objected.

"Dude! You gave Ash like, a penthouse, compared to this!" he complained loudly.

"You get what you deserve," she said, as she slammed the door shut in his face, and then led Brock to his room, which was perfectly decent in comparison.

"Misty, are you okay?" Brock asked, stopping in front of the door leading to his room.

"Of course! I'm happy to see you all!" she responded a bit too quickly.

"I could tell you didn't like Ash's explanation..." he probed, not wanting to annoy her.

"What's there not to like?"

"He was nervous, Misty."

"About what? I figured he'd come to visit his mom. Did he run out of money or something?" she laughed without sincerity. Brock smiled and shook his head.

"Well," he concluded, entering the room, "There is more to it than what you heard. Much more," with that, he shut the door, hoping to rest a little before dinner.

_What could he mean? _Misty wondered, as she walked down the hall to her own room. She wished to speak to Ash in private, to spend time with him, but it was bound to be quite as painful as it'd be enjoyable, and she didn't know what mattered to her more at the time: not making things worse, or enjoying him while she still could. After all, they'd leave for Pallet tomorrow morning...

...and she would lose him again.

She'd lose Ash again.

**~~oOo~~**

Ash paced around his guest room in anger, occasionally slamming his fist against the wall, feeling helpless and disappointed with himself. Pikachu observed his trainer silently, knowing that not much could be of comfort to him at the time. The little rodent jumped in Ash's lap when the young man sat on the bed with a heavy sigh.

"How could I be so stupid, Pikachu? I had my chance! I travelled here from Sinnoh! I paused my journey! I'd do it all over again, just to get her to travel with us again... Why did I have to blow it? How will I explain it now? What am I gonna say? 'You know, Misty, I actually came here to ask you to travel with me, but I'm a coward and didn't want to risk rejection in front of Gary Oak!'" Ash cursed himself over and over again, as Pikachu squirmed softly, trying to soothe his trainer.

Ash began pacing back and forth around the room once again, bashing himself endlessly. He didn't know how to turn it around, how to admit the truth now. Was the journey going to be all for nothing? No, he couldn't allow that. He couldn't just leave and...

"Ash?" he didn't even notice Brock standing in the doorway, up until he closed the door shut behind himself. Ash looked at his older friend with a pained expression; he hasn't uttered a single word. Brock walked over to him and laid his hand on Ash's shoulder, looking down to try to look him in the eyes.

"What was that all about?"

Ash sighed heavily, looking down at the carpet.

"I couldn't... Not with all these people... Gary and... her sisters..."

Brock nodded; he thought as much.

"Well, you need to ta-..." Brock's advice was interrupted by a loud thud on the door, soon followed by it opening wide, only to reveal Gary.

"Apparently, it's _DIIINNERTIME!_" Gary mimicked Violet's affected way of speaking, as he left the door open and walked down the hall, his friends reluctantly following. Dinner with Misty, under normal circumstances, would be the pinnacle of Ash's newfound dreams; but as things were now, it would just add to his regret, yet another reminder of what he messed up that wonderful day.

**~~oOo~~**

The dinner was just as both Ash and Misty had expected - a bittersweet mix of enjoyment and pain. Ash knew that if he did not manage to turn things around, Misty would be a dream once more, by tomorrow. Misty felt her loss even more than before, having regained her hope for a brief moment. The two friends did not talk much to anyone at all, leaving Brock, Gary, Tracey and Misty's sisters to their own devices. Some conversation followed, but not enough to avoid long moments of awkward, meaningful silence. The involved parties did not know each other well enough to have an easy time falling into conversation, and the two links between them - Ash and Misty - were mostly silent, although Misty, not having the regrets that Ash did, attempted to keep the conversation flowing and even made a few jokes directed at Gary.

After dinner, although Ash would have preferred to lock himself up in his room, they all remained in the living room, catching up and casually chatting. Brock fell into an easy conversation with Lily, Misty's sister, and the rest of them talked about the group's journeys in Sinnoh. The one thing that still remained without a proper explanation, was...

"Why would you just suddenly quit your journey and go home?" Tracey asked curiously, and although he meant no harm, Ash turned all red at the question.

"You ran out of money?" Daisy added, giggling. Misty gave her a sour look.

"I didn't quit," Ash answered impatiently, "I just took a short break. We're all heading back to Sinnoh soon," with Misty sitting on the opposite side of the table from him, he had an easier time forming coherent sentences, but he attempted to steal a glance at her whenever he could; each time, he ended up breathless. How was he ever going to fix this without hurting her, embarrassing himself, or pushing her towards a "no"? Avoiding saying the truth in front of everyone in the room would surely not earn him brownie points in her eyes... No, Misty was not one to forgive, and she admired strength of character; he had no chance.

"Ash?" Tracey's voice snapped him out of his distraction.

"Yeah?"

"I asked when you were heading down to Pallet," Tracey reminded with a friendly smile on his face. Misty observed Ash carefully as he answered the question.

"I...I'm not sure," he admitted.

"I'm going back to Pallet in two days. If Misty doesn't mind you staying, we might as well all go together," Tracey offered, "I have to stick around for... Taking a better look at the diet of the Pokémon in the Gym."

Ash opened his eyes wide, content to hear an idea that would buy him more time to try to turn things around. He looked at Misty.

"Sure, why not?" Misty said, attempting to sound casual. Her two sisters nodded in agreement - Lily was preoccupied with Brock.

"Thanks, two days sounds great!" Ash said, finally managing to muster some enthusiasm.

"Of course it does, Lover Bo-" Gary stopped there, because Ash kicked him in the ankle underneath the small, wooden coffee table. "OW!"

"Is something wrong?" Tracey asked innocently, winking at Ash.

"No." Gary replied in an annoyed tone, and decided to take revenge on Ash by speaking to Misty. "So, Misty, how is life in Cerulean?"

"Just the same as it has always been."

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

Misty blushed furiously in reply.

"How is that ANY OF YOUR BUSINESS, GARY OAK?" her voice promised a century of pain, if he would choose to interrogate her further. Gary laughed easily, knowing that Ash was glaring at him.

"Hey, you can't blame me for asking, you grew up to be pretty hot, too! Who would have thought..."

Misty's sisters eyed him skeptically, Ash growled almost inaudibly, and Misty was left astonished and speechless, which wasn't a common occurrence. She composed herself as quickly as she could, and said-

"Keep it to yourself. Not like I'd ever care about _your _opinion."

Gary brought his hands to his chest, attempting to look as if an arrow was shot straight through his heart.

"That hurt! I think my heart is bleeding... Now you've gotta give me a kiss to make it better!"

Ash was almost beside himself from anger and jealousy, and Gary, instead of a kiss from Misty, received yet another slap in the face, which made him quiet for a few precious moments. Misty looked content with her work and returned to her seat with a triumphant smile, but when she looked at Ash, she was surprised to find such an upset expression on his face. _What could _he_ possibly be unhappy about?_

"So, Ash, are there any interesting Pokémon in Sinnoh?" Tracey asked after a moment of silence, during which Gary observed Misty with amusement while rubbing his sore cheek and Ash looked at the carpet with a surprising amount of interest, occasionally stealing glances at Misty - how painful they were, with the memory of his stupid mistake so fresh in his mind; yet he couldn't resist looking at her.

Ash, still distracted by observing her, failed to respond quickly, and Gary beat him to it.

"I think Ash is interested in... other things, not just Pokémon, lately," he said with mock-seriousness. Brock rolled his eyes at Gary and shook his head.

"And _I_ think we've had enough for one evening, Gary," Brock scolded his companion, attempting to keep the tone light, but failing to do so. It was easy to see how tormented Ash had felt at that moment, and Gary's teasing was really badly timed.

Gary, normally headstrong and careless, had developed a lot of respect for Brock during their journeys together. Had it been Ash trying to set him straight, he would only mock him all the more, but he chose to respect Brock's hidden reprimand and said no more.

After Gary calmed down, the other people in the room managed to fall into a conversation, leaving only Ash and Misty silent.

A few minutes passed, and Misty grew tired of being able to see Ash, yet not interacting with him, so she decided to go for it. Knowing that it might bring her pain later on, once he's gone, she went to sit beside him on the sofa. His eyes opened up wide at the sight of her approaching him, but he smiled without even knowing; despite his regret and anger with himself, he wanted to be near her, after all.

"Hey, Ash," she said softly. Until he looked at her, she wasn't sure which emotion ruled her heart at the time - anger (_Stupid, stupid, stupid Ash! Why did you even come here? I know why! Only to mess with me!_) or wonder (_It's him. It's really him. He's changed so much... But it's still... It's... It's Ash!...)_; but when he met her shy gaze, she knew that wonder had won over. It was Ash - _her_ Ash - right there, next to her, just like in her dreams.

"Hey, Mist," he responded quietly, unknowingly causing tremor within her heart with his changed, deeper voice.

"It's been a long time, huh?"

"Uh, yeah... Yeah... It has." he looked down at his own hands, once again reminded of his failure earlier that day. He realized that he had to take his chance, he had to correct his own mistake, and with a deep breath, he said: "Um, Misty..."

"Yes?" she looked at him with such intensity, unknowingly pouring so much hope into her eyes, that he lost his courage, again. _Why would she ever want to travel with me? Be with me? I'm a coward!_

"What're you going to do now? You know, without the gym and all?"

This was a question that she heard much too often lately. A hint of disappointment once again crossed her features, but it was gone right after it appeared. She forced a smile upon her lips.

"I don't know. Maybe I'll make my dream come true, the one that I had when I was just a little girl."

"What dream?" he asked with curiosity.

"To marry a rich, handsome prince and be a princess of the whole world," she stated with seriousness. Ash looked at her with a confused frown for such a long time, she couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"I'm joking, you idiot!" she laughed, nudging his shoulder playfully, "You're so dense, Ash."

"Hey! I'm not dense! You've always had these stupid, girly ideas," he defended himself, half-offended, half-amused.

"Yeah? Like what?" she asked with a hidden warning in her tone, which he, as he always did, completely disregarded.

"Like when you wrote these love letters to those two kids with Nidorans, saying they were meant for each other!"

"That was not a _stupid_ idea! They fell in love!"

"Whatever, it was a _girly _idea. I'd never do anything like that!"

"Of course you wouldn't. You don't know what true love means," she finished the argument, as always indirectly calling Ash clueless. He laughed it off, acting as if he wouldn't care to know about such unimportant matters.

Yet, deep down inside, as he sat next to her, talking to her in that same old manner, he realized that he wasn't quite as clueless anymore. He may not know a lot of things, but he surely knew a thing or two about love by now.

Because of her.

**~~oOo~~**

The evening flew by, spent mostly on catching up for the old friends and getting to know new ones. Ash and Misty weren't given too much time to talk, which to both was equally painful as it was enjoyable, as both had things they wished to say, yet couldn't.

When they all parted to head to bed, Ash, Brock, Gary and Pikachu all walked down the hall of the guest part of the Gym, neither saying much. Ash, deprived of Misty's presence, once again remembered what he was about to lose, if he wouldn't find a solution to his earlier slip.

"I can't believe I told her I was just passing by," he mumbled, standing by his door. Brock and Gary looked at him with concern.

"You messed things up, Ashy-boy," Gary said, but without his usual mirth.

"I know," Ash replied, and then shut himself in the room he had been assigned, with the painful knowledge of the fact that in a bit over thirty-six hours, he may lose her again.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Today's chapter is shorter, tell me if you prefer longer chapters over the shorter ones! Please let me know if you enjoy the story, and even if you don't, I'm still happy to hear any feedback! ^_^

**~~oOo~~**

Misty was shaken by all the emotions she had experienced during the day. Extreme joy at seeing him again, seeing the boy she used to know became a young man, seeing the friend she had fallen for so many years ago was all that she used to know, and more. To see him at all was better than not seeing him ever again, she was certain of it now, having spent the day with him.

Yet, her stupid hope found a way to sneak back into her thoughts earlier, and she couldn't help but feel disappointed when he revealed the reason of his sudden appearance in Cerulean. It was stupid of her to assume that he'd come back only for her, or so she had thought. Too much daydreaming, she decided, as she threw herself on the bed and stared at the ceiling, seeing nothing but Ash's chocolate eyes, haunting her, filling her with both joy and sorrow, but most of all, with longing. She fell into a fitful, dreamless slumber, relieving her of her thoughts, if only for a short while.

Meanwhile, Ash lied in bed, with Pikachu curled up and fast asleep right next to him. He was petting the fast-asleep electric mouse absent mindedly. His thoughts were in a turmoil.

The day that was just coming to an end had been both amazing and awful. To see Misty after all this time... It was a breathtaking sensation, and the mere thought of the smile that she had given him earlier, when they made their way back to Cerulean, as a group... The mere thought of that made his heart nearly jump out of his chest. He was now sure that he had not just imagined all these feelings he had for her. Why else would her presence alone be enough to render him speechless? No, this had to be true, he didn't know how, but it really was.

Yet, he didn't want to settle for just seeing her and going right back to Sinnoh (he couldn't, anyway, he had no money for that) with nothing. He wanted her to travel with him again. Why else would he come back to Kanto?

Why was he such an idiot?

He knew that it would not be easy, but he chose not to surrender. He would explain everything to Misty in the morning, and ask her to travel with him again. He could not let her go again.

**~~oOo~~**

Misty awoke right before daybreak, and quickly realized she would not be able to get any more sleep. However, the rest had calmed her and soothed her disappointment, leaving her with a strong resolve to spend as much time with Ash as she possibly could. She'd make the most of the moment, knowing that she would most likely not see him again for a long time. Perhaps she could even walk them down to Pallet?

Three years ago, an alternative road between Cerulean City and Pewter City had been built, allowing adventurers to surpass the exhausting trek through Mt. Moon. Misty was eager to show them the way - if that meant more time with Ash, she'd probably even walk through the mountain, but she doubted Ash would choose to go that way, if an easier option had been presented.

Misty laughed softly at the memory of how lazy Ash was. There was no chance he would ever change on that aspect.

She had decided to go for her usual morning swim before the entire Gym was awake. She got dressed, knowing how many guests they've had, grabbed her swimsuit and quietly opened the door to her room, only to find it blocked by a rather heavy weight. She pressed a little harder, and then harder again, all to no avail.

"What the..." Misty muttered, then braced herself and launched her whole body at the door with full force, finally removing the blockade and startling a sleeping Ash, who was the cause of her door being blocked in the first place.

He wanted to talk to her first thing in the morning, so he decided to wait outside her door and fell asleep in the process; on the hard floor of the hall, right outside Misty's room.

"Owww..." he propped himself up on his elbows, looking around in confusion, until he spotted Misty, who was looking at him from above... Or glaring at him, rather.

"Ash? What do you think you're doing here?" she demanded an explanation, and alarm bells in his head suddenly started ringing. _Uh oh, not good, not good!_ he thought to himself, swiftly getting up from the floor, and once again felt surprised at his own height in comparison to hers.

"Um, Misty, I... uh, I wanted to... Talk to you..." Ash stammered under her hard stare.

"And you couldn't have waited for the opportunity in a normal place, such as, I don't know, _your own room_?"

To her surprise, he smiled at that; a brilliant, knowing, warm smile, followed by a shake of his head.

"No. I couldn't."

Now it was her turn to feel confused - where was the Ash that would talk back and argue with her? It was not like him to answer a rhetorical question in such a calm manner... But, that was not the end of it: Misty's surprise grew even more when he placed his hands on her shoulders, softly, but decidedly, making her face him fully. His bold move brought a small blush upon her cheeks, and Ash once again found himself at a loss of words; it was hard not to, with her so near.

"Look, Misty, uh..." he said, forcing himself not to look down to the floor, "I..."

"You what?" Misty asked in an angry tone of voice, although she felt more curious than angry.

He fell silent for a moment, bracing himself for what was about to come. Would she say no? Would she say yes? Would she be furious that he failed to ask her the day before?

"Well?" her voice brought him back to reality, and he looked at her with determination in his eyes.

"Mist, I didn't come here to visit Mom or anything like that... I mean, sure, I'd wanna see her too, but... Uh... I've come here because..."

Du-dum. Du-dum. Du-dum. Ash felt as if his heart was about to jump out of his chest; but even if it did, he didn't think he would notice; he was much too focused on her to notice anything but her eyes. She hasn't said a word, impatiently awaiting an explanation.

"Because, well... I saw on TV that you're no longer the Gym Leader here, and, you know... I instantly knew that I needed to... Go back to Kanto and ask you to..." he paused for a moment, "...travel with me again...?" he blurted out at last, feeling anxious beyond what he thought was ever imaginable.

Shock appeared on her face, not a single word slipped from her mouth. Ash still did not look at her, taking her silence as a bad sign. Would she laugh at him, would she find him ridiculous? Would she say "_not in a million years!_"?

A long while has passed, before she finally uttered a single word. Her voice was filled with emotions she was fighting to conceal.

"Really?"

"Really!" Ash shouted in reply, "Mist... Please, come and travel with me again!"

She could hardly believe what she had just heard. Was it another one of her self-induced hallucinations? Was she dreaming again? Was the young man in front of her nothing but a product of her lonely, hyperactive imagination?

Meanwhile, he waited for her response, each and every second making him more and more convinced of an impending rejection.

Just as he braced himself for the worst, she smiled at him: a brilliant, breathtaking smile, one of the smiles he would remember for the rest of his life. Small droplets of tears appeared in her eyes, but she made no effort at brushing them away.

He still hasn't heard an answer, but what was about to come was a thousand, no, a _million_ times better than any answer she could have ever given him.

The answer was not spoken, no; instead it came in the form of an action, when she had lunged herself into his arms and hugged him tightly, her arms wrapped around his chest, her face pressed tightly against it. In the back of his mind, he realized just _how_ much taller he really was than her, since he could easily rest his head on hers if he wanted to; but he stood there, motionless, shocked, overjoyed.

Misty was hugging him tight.

He initially froze, but soon wrapped his arms around her in return. Holding her in his arms made him feel strangely at home, as if this was what he had always wanted to do. Perhaps it was; he wouldn't know. A lot of things seemed to be entirely different than what he used to believe was real, what he believed was true.

At that moment, he really didn't care. He held her in his arms, nothing else mattered at the time.

The moment lasted way too short a while, at least for his liking. Misty pulled away after about thirty seconds, and looked up to meet his gaze. Tears of joy still traveled down her cheeks, and this time, she attempted to wipe them away. He wanted to touch her face and be the one to catch the salty drops, but he was much too afraid to do so.

"Of course I will travel with you," she finally replied with a wide smile, "Just don't break my bike again, it's expensive!"

That was it. Just when he thought things couldn't get any better, they just did.

_She will travel with me again!_

He could hardly believe what she had just said, so he too asked for confirmation.

"Really?"

"Really!" she exclaimed, laughing joyfully through her tears. Ash smiled wider than he had ever thought imaginable, and in a sudden outburst of joy mixed with bravery, he placed his hands on her waist and lifted her up, then spun her around in the air a few times. They both laughed happily throughout, each amazed at the proximity of the other, at the feelings that stirred because of their close contact. It was so like before, and yet so different in all sorts of ways.

Once he set her down on the floor, still looking her straight in the eyes with a blush on his face, Brock, Gary, Tracey and Pikachu jumped from the room on the opposite side of the hall. Brock had tears in his eyes and supportive flags in his hands; Gary appeared rather bored, and Tracey was smiling knowingly. Pikachu ran up to Misty and jumped into her arms.

"Pikachu pi!"

"ASH! I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!" Brock cried, patting his friend on the back much too strongly.

"Geez, Brock, why'd you wake me up for this?" Gary whined.

"All the way from Sinnoh, huh, Ash? I'm impressed!" Tracey added with a smile.

"What are you all doing in here?!" Misty shouted. Her voice, as often was the case, held a warning, a warning they should be sure not to disregard. Misty's wrath was never a pleasant thing to be faced with.

"I heard Ash sneak out of his room, so I followed him," Brock explained, "I couldn't miss this!"

"And he felt the need to wake me up, too..." Gary said, unimpressed.

"I heard you and Ash and joined them!"

"We heard, too!" Daisy and Lily chimed in, suddenly appearing at the other side of the hall.

"He wants you to come back! I don't really get him, but... Geez, Misty, that's like, _SOOOO CUTE!_"

"Just... How long have you all been listening to us?!" Ash erupted, looking at them all sternly; perhaps not as sternly as Misty was, but as sternly as he could manage.

"A while..." Brock replied, innocently. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I was just worried about you two. Welcome back on the team, Misty!"

Misty sighed heavily and pulled Brock's ear just like she used to back in the days, but let him go after a moment, and after smacking him on the shoulder, she finally smiled.

"Thanks, Brock," she then turned her eyes to Gary, "You... You better watch out."

"I'm so scared," Gary mocked with a smile; he seemed to enjoy making Misty angry.

Suddenly, Misty remembered the original reason Ash had given her for returning to Kanto, and turned to him with a question.

"Hey, Ash, why'd you say you came back to visit Pallet, if that wasn't what you really came back here for?" she asked suspiciously.

_Uh oh, busted... _Ash thought, knowing that he would have to admit the painful truth in front of a much larger audience - almost the same audience as the day before, in fact, only this time, he'd have to admit to being a coward.

He looked at all the faces around him, staring at him intently. Pikachu looked at him with sympathy, as did Brock, Gary had a smirk on his face, and Misty and her sisters stared at him with curiosity. With a sigh, he blurted out:

"I was scared you'd say no, so I... I chickened out..."

Silence fell in the hall, and Ash prepared himself for an unavoidable slap from Misty, but it never happened. Shockingly enough, she smiled at him, shaking her head slightly.

"You're stupid, Ash," she said calmly. _How could he ever think something like that? I must be really good at keeping my feelings to myself... That, or he's just exceptionally dense._

Tracey exchanged knowing glances with Brock.

"Well, what do you all say we stop standing around here, and get some more sleep? It's not even five in the morning..." Brock said, and the whole group agreed.

Misty gave up on the idea of a swim; she wanted some time alone to be able to think about the events of the morning. She was much too shocked and overjoyed to sleep, but at the same time, she really needed that moment alone - as did Ash, so they both eagerly agreed to Brock's idea and parted ways. Ash lingered until Misty disappeared behind the closed door to her room.

He has never felt this fulfilled in his entire life.

He asked her to come back, and she said yes.

No matter what he'd do from this moment on, he would try really hard not to mess it up. Perhaps, if he tried hard enough, one day, she'd see him for something more than just a friend.

**~~oOo~~**

The group of friends met again during breakfast, where the news of Misty returning were shared with Violet, who was a deep sleeper and missed the commotion in the hall just a few hours ago. Misty's sisters appeared to be genuinely shocked at the trouble Ash has gone through just to see her again, but all in all, they wished her well, and she was able to ignore most of their surprised, ignorant comments.

As plans in regards to their upcoming journey were made, Violet suggested throwing them all a farewell party - after all, who knew when they would return from that strange continent...

"What was it called again? Shainoh?" she asked. Misty brought her palm to her face in response, but in general, everyone was thrilled with the idea of a party, and now, everyone at the table chimed in with their own ideas for the event, which was to take place the following evening.

"Hey, I think Dawn would like to be here, too!" Ash remembered, "We should call her!"

"Dawn?" Misty hasn't heard of Ash's new traveling companion before.

"She's our friend, from Sinnoh. She came with us to Kanto, but stayed back in Vermillion for a while," Brock explained. Ash felt uncomfortable, recalling the situation from the S.S. ANNE III, and once more hoped that Dawn was okay.

"I'll call the Pokémon Center in Vermillion, she should be there," Gary offered and picked up his Pokégear to dial the number. The others remained silent as he talked to the local Nurse Joy. "Hello, Nurse Joy? Hey! I'm calling for my friend, Dawn, she's staying there, right?... What do you mean she hasn't come back for the night? She left her things and went for a walk? And then? You haven't seen her since then?!" Gary's voice increased in volume with each word, until he was basically shouting into the handset. Ash and Brock looked at him with concern as he spoke. "Did she say where she was going? No? Has she taken her Pokémon with her?... No?!"

"This isn't good!" Ash exclaimed as Gary finished up the call.

"We need to find her!" Brock said, and the other two young men agreed with him. Misty, now being on the team, also nodded and stood immediately.

"Where could she go?" Ash wondered to himself with worry.

"Well, Ash, you won't find out by sitting here, will you? Get up and let's go!" Misty commanded, "If she's your friend, then we need to find her and make sure she's okay!"

"I'll go with you, if you don't mind?" Tracey asked, "Maybe I can help somehow." They all readily agreed and left the Gym shortly after, in a hurry back to Vermillion, hoping to find Dawn safe and sound.

Misty, although concerned for Ash's friend, has never felt quite as good as when they departed from Cerulean, walking side by side, once again.

She was on the road again.

_With Ash._


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: **Sorry for the small delay in posting. I'm done posting the chapters I've already had prepared, and I've been busy, so I didn't have too much time to write. As always, any feedback is very appreciated! ^_^

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Pokemon or any of the characters in this story. They all belong to Nintendo.

They set out right after breakfast, and were out of Cerulean long before noon. The group was now larger than ever, although Tracey wasn't planning to stick around, but they were too worried about Dawn to truly enjoy the time they were spending together. Ash couldn't help but feel guilty; if he didn't let her down, she'd probably go with them and wouldn't get into trouble - that is, if she _was_ in trouble. On the other hand, he could have never told her that he returned her feelings, because he didn't. He only had eyes for Misty... Still, a pang of guilt remained. Perhaps they shouldn't have left her alone in Vermillion... but she didn't want Gary's company, so... Then again, who'd want Gary's company?

He turned his eyes to Misty, once again attempting to steal a glance without her noticing it. She was walking right beside him, carrying Pikachu in her arms, petting and kissing the little electric rodent. For Ash, seeing her next to him, felt like a wonderful dream that he never wished to wake up from.

"Chaaaa!" Pikachu squirmed happily; he missed her too, after all.

"I missed you, Pikachu!" she exclaimed, and Pikachu cuddled up to her with a content smile on his face.

"I think Pikachu likes her better than he likes you, Ash," Gary commented, "Remember what I said about him getting a girlfriend before you do?"

"You're an idiot, Gary," Ash said with a sigh, not even attempting to come up with a witty come-back, feeling absolutely hopeless. Misty was right there, and Gary was doing his very best to humiliate him in all sorts of ways. _Now _she would truly think that he was a complete loser!

"Pikachu knows the meaning of friendship, unlike you, Gary," Misty said, still smiling at the electric Pokémon.

"You don't know me at all," Gary said with a sour grin, once again looking at the road.

"Are those two always like that?" Tracey asked Brock, pointing at Ash and Gary.

"Yep. Always," Brock replied with resignation.

They walked in silence for a while, attempting to keep up a good pace without exhausting themselves; the day was extremely warm, and the sky was a clear shade of blue, undisturbed by clouds. There were scarcely any trees to offer them shade from the burning sun above their heads, and the heat grew difficult to bear, but they had no time to waste, so they followed the worn path as fast as they possibly could. If Dawn needed help, they had to hurry, and while they couldn't be sure that she did, they had to be sure that she _didn't._

"I'll try her Pokégear again," Gary said after a moment of silence, pulling his own device out of the pocket of his jeans, visibly concerned. They have tried to call her after calling the Pokécenter, but her Pokégear wasn't responding.

The whole group stared at Gary impatiently as he dialed the number, but a few seconds later their hopes were shattered again, as Dawn was still unreachable.

"Where could she be?" Brock wondered aloud.

"I hope she's okay," Misty said. She could easily see that the whole group was concerned about Dawn, and although both Misty and Tracey didn't know the young trainer, they were still concerned just like they would be for any person that appeared to be missing, especially because Dawn was a friend of Ash and the others.

"She's never been to Kanto before, she liked Vermillion... We shouldn't have let her go by herself," Gary said, slightly shocking all of them. He rarely said anything that was not rude or sarcastic.

"We should've asked her to come with us..." Ash agreed, still feeling guilty about the whole thing. Misty looked at him, silent alarm bells ringing in her head. Dawn was probably a girl at their age. What if Ash liked her?

_Ugh, how selfish can I be! The girl's missing and I'm wondering if Ash likes her! Get a grip, Misty! _she scolded herself in her thoughts, but the seed of doubt has already been planted in her mind.

As for Ash, he was having similar thoughts. Dawn was missing, yet he couldn't help but feel happy that Misty was with him again; still, he knew that real, unburdened joy will have to be postponed until their friend was found safe and sound.

**~~oOo~~**

The group of friends reached Vermillion City around lunch time, fact that was made known to everyone by Ash's rumbling stomach. He blushed intensely; for once in his life, it actually bothered him, simply because Misty was there. She shook her head at him with a sarcastic smile on her face.

"You'll never change, will you, Ash? You still can't care about _anything_ except food!"

"That's completely untrue, Misty! I care about _a lot_ of things!" he responded to her tease with a grumpy expression.

"I know what Ashy-boy cares the most about!" Gary joined the conversation, happy to find something else to tease Ash about. Ash shoved his friend/rival into a street lamp in reply.

They decided to eat something while searching the city, checking all the places Dawn might have visited, so they all had to settle for a sandwich. Ash cried on the inside at the sight of his small lunch, but said nothing, trying to appear mature.

"Okay, so," Brock said, pulling out a map of Vermillion, "Where do you think she might have gone to?"

"The coast? She really liked it," Gary suggested.

"The Pokémon fan club?" Ash added.

"The mall?" That was Tracey's suggestion; having spent a lot of time with Daisy, he was well aware of how much women enjoyed shopping.

"Maybe to the park? It has a very romantic view," Misty said, and Ash smiled lightly. Yet another thing she considered _romantic _about Vermillion; the beautiful park on the side of town.

"Alright, then we will split up, and each will go in the direction they suggested!" Brock decided, and they all nodded in agreement. "We will meet here, at the center of town, in two hours!"

The whole group parted ways, with Gary and Tracey heading to the south of town, Ash and Misty to the west, and Brock heading off to the north.

Ash was pleased to be left alone with Misty, although he knew that it would be difficult to utter even a single word; not to mention that the circumstances weren't all that enjoyable, as they were searching for a lost friend. No matter, he still enjoyed her presence, and admired the way her hair reflected sunlight, the way it softly surrendered to the warm breeze, becoming slightly tousled. As if she could hear his thoughts, she ran her hand through her hair and let it loose, removing the Staryu-shaped pin.

"My hair is a mess, isn't it?" she asked, noticing his look, which he hoped she wouldn't have caught. He needed to be more careful. Ash shook his head vigorously in response; this was one of the questions you couldn't say "_yes_" to, if Misty was the person asking you, and you valued your own life. Besides, he enjoyed seeing her with her hair loose.

"It looks great, Mist," he stammered quietly, still feeling shy around her, "I didn't know your hair was that long."

"I've been letting it grow for a while," she smiled, raising her eyebrows in surprise; she didn't expect that he would be able to spot the difference.

Ash looked away to fight the overpowering urge to run his fingers through her hair, to feel the silky strands between his fingers, rather than just imagining the sensation. _Ugh, pull yourself together, Ash! _

"Are you worried about Dawn?" she asked in a tender voice, assuming that was the reason of him turning his eyes away.

"Huh, well, of course I am," he replied, "But I think she's gonna be okay. I mean, Dawn rarely gets into any trouble."

"I'm sure she's fine. Look, there's the Pokémon fan club!" she pointed ahead at the medium-sized, fancy building. Every single wall, door, window, _everything_ was Pokémon themed, so it was hard to miss.

"Right, I will ask them if they've seen Dawn!" Ash ran up to the entrance, then stopped, "Hey, why don't you come with me? It won't take long, and we can split up in the park to search better if she's not here," he suggested, trying his best to sound casual. In truth, he just wanted more time with her; it was much too soon to give up this lucky chance to be alone with her, even if he felt awkward the whole time.

"Sure!" she agreed eagerly, and they went inside, where they were greeted by several lifelike mechanic Pokémon dolls, each greeting them with their own distinct cry.

They didn't have time to admire all the Pokémon merchandise along with the rest of the fans, though, so they went straight to the owner of the club, who sat on a big sofa in the center of the room, surrounded by various Rapidash-related goodies: dolls, pillows, balloons and the like.

"Sir?" Ash said tentatively, but failed to capture the man's attention. "Sir!"

"My Rapidash... So beautiful... Strong..." the owner of the club was occupied with telling the story of his beloved Rapidash to a young Pokémon trainer, who stood there with a bored look on his face, nodding here and there.

Ten minutes have passed, and after several attempts, Ash and Misty gave up on trying to make him listen to them - they decided to wait for the story to end instead, boring as it was.

At last, the man had finished, and offered the kid a bike voucher as a reward for listening to his tale. The young trainer ran off right after that, leaving the club owner's undivided attention to Ash and Misty.

"Hello! Hello! I love to meet young people with Pokémon! Now, have you come here to hear about my beloved Rapidash?"

They assured him in their most animated words and gestures that they weren't there to listen to his tale, but they had an important question to ask. The man looked disappointed, but still told them to go ahead and ask.

"Our friend's gone missing, and we think she may have been here. Her name is Dawn... Um, she has long, dark-blue hair... Carries this yellow bag around... Have you seen her?" Ash asked with concern.

The man took a moment to think, and after a moment his face lit up with recognition.

"Ah! Yes! She was here, I told her about my sweet Rapidash, and she refused to take any payment for it! Such an extraordinary person! You see, I own the bike store back in Cerulean, so I like to reward young people who show interest in...-"

"So she was here? _When_?" Misty interrupted the man impatiently, knowing that they have no time to lose.

"Yesterday in the afternoon, young miss. She didn't stay long enough, I dare say! A great person to talk to, yes!"

"Did she say where she'd go after she left?"

"She mentioned going for a walk; it was a very nice evening, wasn't it?"

"That doesn't tell us anything..." Ash sighed in resignation. They both thanked the man earnestly, and then departed, headed towards the park.

**~~oOo~~**

Gary and Tracey barely knew each other - Tracey had formed a pretty bad opinion about Gary quite early on, based on their short and irregular acquaintance; as for Gary, he hardly noticed Tracey's existence during his visits in Pallet Town. Gary, having been a successful trainer, the best one to leave Pallet Town, had a rather large following of girls willing to boost his already oversized ego at any time; that was what he usually tended to when visiting home. Tracey considered him a shallow, selfish kid.

It was no wonder that they haven't said a word to one another while walking together through the streets of Vermillion, headed in the same direction.

Gary walked fast, his eyes were glued to the road ahead of him, and his face had a solemn, concerned expression. Tracey, although more determined to help than concerned, also kept up a good pace, but even though he was ignoring Gary, he couldn't help but hear his unwelcome companion sigh heavily.

Tracey turned his eyes towards the young man, somewhat reluctantly, but maintained the tone of his voice friendly when he decided to speak up, breaking the silence between the two of them.

"I'm sure she's fine," Tracey said in an attempt to console him. Gary shook his head.

"I shouldn't have let her stay here by herself. She doesn't know Kanto."

"Kanto can't be that much more dangerous than Sinnoh," he reasoned, "I'm sure we'll find her."

Gary hasn't said a word to that, and Tracey, despite his dislike for the young man, started to feel a little sorry for him. Tracey was rather good at reading people, or so he liked to think; he was compassionate, and that allowed him to understand the feelings of people and Pokémon alike a little better than others did. He silently cursed his own kindness, and then spoke again:

"You worry about her a lot, don't you?" he asked; Gary frowned at his question momentarily.

"How's that any of your business, Mr. Assistant?"

"You do," Tracey smiled, unmoved by Gary's harsh tone. He never cared if people were rude towards him.

"I thought you were a delivery boy for my old man, not a shrink, dude." Gary remained composed, but Tracey could see the emotions hidden underneath the surface, threatening to emerge whenever he looked down an alley, inside a shop, only to be disappointed again; she wasn't there, time to keep searching...

"Why are you always such a jerk to everyone?" Tracey asked casually, feeling genuinely curious; he could read Gary to a certain degree, but the young man still puzzled him in some ways. Since Tracey always assumed that Gary was as shallow as a puddle, it was quite surprising to find that he actually had some human feelings on top of all the stupid things he said or did.

"I have my reasons," Gary dodged the question, "Look, that's the mall over there. Get moving, delivery boy, I'm off to the coast." With that, he walked off down south, with his hands in his pockets and his stride quick and rushed.

Tracey shrugged and walked into the mall, then spent the following thirty minutes speaking to all the shopkeepers. Indeed, she was there the previous day, spent a little money on silly things, and left in the early hours of the evening. They didn't know where she had gone to.

With not much more time left till their meeting, he headed back. He hasn't seen Gary on the way.

**~~oOo~~**

The park in Vermillion was a beautiful place, which looked as if it was taken straight out of an old romance book. Misty couldn't help but admire the well maintained alleys, with benches placed tactfully either by the small pond or hidden under the willow trees, allowing for some privacy. The one spot she liked the most was the small rose garden. The little wooden bench that stood there, fit enough only for two, was surrounded by roses in full bloom; the warm weeks have been generous to all the flowers, blessing them with wonderful colors. Her romantic mind quickly conjured the image of Ash and herself sitting on that very bench, him gazing straight into her eyes with love painted all over his face, and then leaning in to ki-...

"Misty? Have you found anything?" Ash startled her with his approach; they've split up upon entering the park, and he has already searched through his half, so he decided to seek her out, only to find her staring at one of those _romantic _spots. He had to admit, it was nice enough, and she looked very cute with that small blush on her face. Ash couldn't help but wonder what she was thinking about when he approached her, and as if she could read his mind, her blush deepened.

"Nothing. Have _you_ found anything?" She managed to compose herself just enough to reply, and walked away from the damn roses, bashing herself for her own stupid thoughts. Ash followed her, struggling to match her fast pace. _Why's she in such a hurry?_, he wondered to himself, observing her through the corner of his eye.

"Nothing. I asked some kids, they say they haven't seen her..."

"I guess she didn't go to the park, after all..." Misty sighed.

"She missed out," Ash commented, "It's a really nice place." Misty looked at him in surprise. He has surprised her quite often in the past twenty four hours, and most of the time, the surprises were pleasant, such as this one.

"I never thought you'd call this park _nice_," she teased, "There are no wild Pokémon in here, you know, Ash?"

"Hey! I care about other things, too!"

"Yeah, I know. Food."

Ash laughed in response, half-amused, half-offended, and punched her arm playfully. His expression then turned serious, and he grabbed her arm, forcing her to stop for a moment.

"Hey, what's this all about? We need to get moving!" she exclaimed, trying to pull away from his grip.

"I care about my friends, too, Misty." Ash said in a serious tone of voice, looking her straight in the eye with a strange intensity. He had no idea where he got the courage for this from, but he was pretty pleased with the result, when he noticed the small blush that crept back up on her cheeks; it suited her well, but when he felt his own face heat up, he released her and broke the look they were sharing, as if released from a spell.

Misty said nothing for a moment, but then she smiled; he didn't notice, but he could easily hear it in her voice.

"I know you do, Ash." she said softly, "Come on, we've got to get moving. We need to find your friend."

He nodded and followed her, walking three steps behind her, because he stopped for a moment to look back at the bench he had found her staring at, and then for another moment, to fight the urge to drag her back there and tell her that she looked beautiful when she blushed, with that light shade of pink on her pale cheeks.

But he wouldn't tell her. He wouldn't take the risk of messing things up, now that he finally got her by his side again.

_But she really looked beautiful. She really did. _he thought, as he followed her out of the park.

**~~oOo~~**

The group met up at the appointed hour, with Gary arriving last, as he had searched the whole coast of Vermillion. All the clues were discussed - Ash and Misty heard about her at the Pokémon fan club, Tracey at the store, Brock had found an old man that saw her heading out of the city to the east, and Gary found absolutely nothing of importance, which annoyed him to no end, increasing the amount of his snarky remarks by a lot.

In the end, they found nothing that could be of help, except for Brock's clue.

"What's to the east of Vermillion, anyway?" Ash asked.

"The route that links Lavender Town with Fuchsia City..." Brock responded as he looked through the map, "And... the Diglett Cave,"

"Why would she ever go to the Diglett Cave?" Tracey wondered, "I think we can disregard that one."

"No, we can't," Misty protested, "We can't know for sure, and if she went to the east, then that is where we'll check! Come on!" She didn't wait for them; she simply started walking, and they all followed her. Gary smiled, content to see that she was engaging herself in the search, and quickly caught up to her, determined to both amuse himself and annoy Ash at the same time.

"You're such a caring person, Misty," Gary said sweetly, "You don't even know Dawn, but you're being such a _great_ help."

Misty gave him a sideways glance, shrugged, and then looked back at the road ahead of her.

"We have to find her, so we shouldn't just stand around," she justified her actions, then turned to Pikachu, who was sitting on Ash's shoulder with a worn out look about him, "Hey, Pikachu, are you tired? Do you want a cookie? My Pokémon love this brand!"

She fed the electric Pokémon, and he jumped over to her shoulder to thank her for the treat.

"A nice person like you should really find herself a good boyfriend, you know, not a loser like A-..." at that point, an unfortunate _accident _made Gary stumble and fall into a puddle of mud. Ash grinned as he watched his rival get off the ground and glare at him.

"Don't push it, Ketchum," Gary warned; he only ever called Ash by his last name when he was angry.

"Stop the fighting, we need to get to the cave before it gets dark, so that we can see the surroundings of it, too," Brock set them all straight, and Gary resorted to having a quiet, calm conversation with Misty, who rarely responded, but accepted his attempts either way. It was not the right time to start a fight. Ash, also focused on getting to the cave quickly, amused himself by imagining beating Gary in all sorts of ways, ten times over, instead of actually making it happen.

The entrance to the Diglett Cave was nearly completely concealed by all the nearby trees. The place looked menacing in the fading light of the day, and the less brave of them wished to turn back, but they knew there was no option to do so - they had to find Dawn. Their bravery was rewarded quite quickly; ten minutes into the cave, they had found her yellow bag.

"This means she was here!" Ash exclaimed.

"Why would she be here? This place is... Horrible..." Misty shivered slightly as she looked around in the darkness, which was barely lit up by Ash's Charizard's tail and Brock's flashlight.

"We have to keep searching!" Gary shouted and ran ahead, the rest of the group following him closely.

After twenty minutes of walking deeper into the cave and running into various Diglett's, Dugtrio's and Zubat's, a noise startled them all; it was not a sound made by a Pokemon, it were bits and pieces of a conversation that was taking place somewhere deeper within the cave.

"What is this...?" Tracey whispered, but his mouth was soon covered by four different hands, as the others listened intently.

_"You're useless! I told you! Catch it!" _a commanding voice sounded through the cave, and was shortly followed by a muffled sound of somebody's protest.

_"I'm not going to help you!"_

"It's Dawn!" Gary whispered, "It's her!"

"Are you sure?"

"It is Dawn, I'm sure of it," Ash confirmed.

"We have to help her!"

They all nodded and started moving, as quietly as possible, planning to take the enemy by surprise - whoever it was. Yet, fate was not on their side that day, because as they walked, one of them slipped, making an unnecessary noise, which alerted the people that were with Dawn of their presence. They all froze as they noticed a light appearing at the end of the tunnel, coming closer and closer, asking _WHO'S THERE!?_

Before they had any chance to come up with a good plan, the light of the stranger's flashlight landed on them, finally revealing their opponent.

The last thing they could see was a gun pointed their way, before the sleeping powder of somebody's Pokémon put them to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **Sorry for the delay in posting! I've been busy, so writing took more time than usual. I'll keep a regular posting schedule, just won't post everyday! Any feedback is appreciated - I'm starting to wonder what's wrong with the story, considering the low amount of reviews... But, I appreciate each and every one of them, so thank you ^_^

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Pokemon or any of the characters in this story. They all belong to Nintendo.

**~~oOo~~**

The pain in his skull was very sharp, almost threatening to tear it apart; as if the insides of his head were replaced with hot iron. He couldn't open his eyes, not yet - everything felt heavy, and he wasn't all too sure if he could even move an inch. He drifted in and out of consciousness, welcoming the moments where pain would subdue for a moment, but also knowing that he had to find his way back to the surface. He wasn't safely hidden within his subconscious; he needed to get out.

When clarity came again, Gary forced himself to stay alert, at least as much as the after effects of the sleeping powder allowed.

He still couldn't open his eyes, but he managed to stay focused just enough to overhear bits of conversation, somewhere nearby, somewhere in this black void that he was now in.  
The words he heard made no sense. Nothing made sense. They might as well be speaking Latin, he'd understand just as much.  
Not enough, he thought, fighting the pulsating pain within his skull, Focus, Gary. Focus.  
All he heard was ringing in his ears, the voices sounded so very distant, but as the effects of the sleeping powder were already wearing off, each second brought him closer to clarity. He did his best to ignore the pain and not make a sound; they couldn't find out that he was awake.  
_This... better than we thought... do now...? Sleeping?_  
Gary couldn't make any sense of the words he had heard at first, but he emerged from the black void of unconsciousness over the next few minutes, and his mind was much clearer, although the pain remained. He could now locate the bits of conversation - he surely wasn't in the same room as the people that were speaking, but he couldn't be sure that no one remained on guard. Whoever did this to them, they seemed to take no chances.  
However, Gary knew that _he_ had to take a chance. Slowly, he forced his heavy eyelids to open up ever so slightly, allowing him to take a look at the location they had found themselves in.  
The first thing he saw was Misty and Brock lying on the ground right next to him, both still unconscious. He quickly scanned the room, and to his relief, they were alone, with no one keeping guard - but he didn't know where Ash, Tracey and Dawn were...  
With a very quiet, stifled groan of pain, he crawled towards Brock and Misty to check if they were fine. Both of his friends - he _did_ consider them friends, regardless of his stupid attitude - did not appear to be injured, which he noted with relief. He shook Misty slightly, whispering her name.  
"Misty, wake up! Brock, get up, man!" he tried this for a couple of minutes, but the effects of the sleeping powder were still too strong to let them awaken.  
He didn't have much time. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know where the others were, and what this strange place was. It was some sort of an underground base, he thought. The room he had found himself in was barely lit by a single, dying light bulb, had no windows and looked more like a storage than an actual room. He assumed the door would be locked, but didn't have the strength to get up and check that just yet.  
"Misty! Brock!" he tried while trying to regain his strength to get up, and after two minutes, Misty opened her eyes, looking around in confusion. The sleeping powder did not seem to affect her as badly as it did to Gary; she was able to sit up rather quickly.  
"Gary...? Brock!" she spotted her sleeping friend, and shook him, sadly to no avail.  
"He's alright," Gary assured in a very quiet whisper, "It's the damn powder. It'll wear off." with that, he finally managed to stand up.  
"Where are the others?" she asked just as quietly; her voice was faltering due to worry.  
"I don't know." Gary frowned. His eyes turned to the door, Misty followed his gaze and tried to stand up. However, it was still too soon; everything was still somewhat hazy because of the sleeping powder. She was about to fall, but Gary caught her and kept her in balance.  
"We need to find them!" she insisted once she regained balance and hastily escaped Gary's grip.  
"We do... But... What about Brock?"  
"We could leave some Pokémon with him..." with that, she reached towards her belt, as did he. Their pokéballs were gone.  
"Our Pokémon!" Misty cried a little too loudly, and Gary hushed her.  
"Shhh," he whispered, putting one hand over her mouth. She frowned and pulled away from him, slapping his hand.  
"Keep your hands off me, Gary Oak!"  
"Be quiet, then," he sighed, "You're right, though, we need to try to get out. Let's try the door. I'll try to open it, you lie down and pretend you're still asleep."  
"Why?"  
"If there's someone outside, at least you'll be safe. Lie down!"  
Misty looked at him in surprise, shocked to find him willing to risk his own safety for her sake. She knew it was not the right time to argue, though.  
"Be careful," she whispered and lied down next to Brock.

Gary took a deep breath and tried the doorknob. He was not surprised to find that the door was locked.  
"What are we going to do?" Misty asked, standing up again upon seeing this.  
He shook his head, not saying a word, and then scanned the shelves in the room to find something of use. Trying to break the door would alert everyone with the noise; that was out of the question. But trying to open the lock with something else than a key... That could work. As long as the door wasn't locked with a chain on the outside, too.  
He hastily searched the shelves; Misty joined in, as she quickly picked up on his plan. They found nothing that could be used to pick a lock.  
Nothing, until Gary looked at the sleeping Brock.  
Without a moment's hesitation, he ran towards his sleeping friend and undid Brock's belt, pulling it off with one swift movement. Misty stared at him in astonishment.  
"What are you trying to do?!" she uttered after a moment, then noticed Gary destroyed the buckle, and showed her a part of it with a victorious smile. That could be used to pick a lock. Downside? Brock's pants would fall off. But he was asleep anyway, Gary thought, so it didn't matter too much. Misty stifled a laugh and went back to lying down next to her friend, as Gary manipulated the lock.  
If there was someone on guard, they'd have heard by now, he consoled himself, stubbornly trying to open the door. After a minute of failed attempts, he succeeded; the door opened to reveal an unlit part of the cave. No one stood guard.  
"Get up, Misty, it's clear," Gary whispered and peeked outside. It was pitch black. The sounds of conversation have died down, so he couldn't tell which way was safer to choose. Misty joined him, also peeking out of their temporary prison.

"What about Brock?" she whispered, looking at him with concern. She went back over to her friend and shook him, but he was still fast asleep. "Can you carry him?"  
Gary almost laughed at such a suggestion. Brock was still taller than him, and a fair bit heavier.  
"I can't. Can you?" he mocked.  
They both turned serious and pondered the situation. They had to find Ash, Tracey, Dawn and their Pokémon. Problem was, they couldn't manage to wake Brock up.  
"We need to close the door and leave him here; if they find out we're gone, they'll most likely go after us anyways," Gary decided. He didn't mention what he thought was the biggest obstacle to having one of them stay behind, and one of them going in search of their friends: they were _completely unarmed_. No Pokemon, no weapons. They didn't have a chance on their own.  
_Neither does Brock_, Gary realized. It was a difficult decision. _But Brock's asleep. They'll go for us. We have to find the others._  
With that, he nodded for Misty to follow, and headed out into the complete darkness. She hesitantly followed and closed the door quietly once she left.  
They looked left and right. They were surrounded by complete darkness; unable to even see one another.  
"Grab my hand," Gary whispered.  
"Are you crazy?" she replied, pulling his shirt instead. He sighed heavily. For once in his life, he was actually being serious, and she still took it as flirting.  
"Left or right?"  
"Right."  
Once that decision was made, they both started walking through the dark corridor, hoping to find their friends before they found their enemies.  
_Ash, please be okay..._Misty begged silently in her thoughts, clinging onto the bottom of Gary's shirt as she followed him through the cave.

**~~oOo~~**

Ash could see Misty running towards him through the darkness. She had a look of distress on her face; he had the impression that something was chasing her. Immediately, he tried to rush to her aid, but he felt rooted into place - he couldn't move an inch.  
_"Ash!"_ she cried, and then vanished into thin air.  
"MISTY!"

He sat up abruptly, realizing that what he had just witnessed was just a bad dream. Yet he didn't wake up in his bed, or sleeping bag, as he usually would after a nightmare; instead, he found himself on the floor in an unknown place, with his legs lying on Tracey's head, and his own head plagued by a headache that was nearly unbearable.  
"Ugh..." he groaned in pain and looked around, realizing that the room he was in was fairly dark, and that apart from Tracey, there was no one else with them. No Misty, no Pikachu or Brock...  
Misty!  
The thought of her forced him to move, and he quickly shook Tracey, shouting at him to wake him up, not caring about whether someone would hear them.  
"Just five more minutes, please, Mom..." Tracey whined. Ash shook him harder in frustration; they had no time to waste! His own headache had subdued over time, giving him some of his strength back, and as Tracey landed face first on the muddy floor of the room they were in, he finally woke up.  
"What the... MY HEAD!" he whined again, bringing both of his hands to his head, suffering from the same pain Ash had experienced just moments ago. Ash gave his friend a pat on the back, finding just enough time to feel compassionate for a few seconds, before remembering that they had to find Misty. And Pikachu, and Brock, and Dawn... _and well, yeah, Gary too, I guess..._ he thought.  
"Tracey, we gotta go find the others!" Ash urged, reaching towards his belt to produce Charizard's pokeball; they'd need to light up the room somehow. His hands found nothing except the belt itself. He frantically searched every pocket and all around the floor, but his Pokemon were nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, Tracey was still trying to recover, sitting there with a dazed look on his face. Ash searched him too, nothing.  
_MY POKEMON! MISTY! WHAT'S GOING ON?!_ Ash thought, and then grabbed Tracey's arm, attempting to pull him up. Ash had no idea what, where, when and why, but they had to find the others, and fast.  
"C'mon Tracey, we need to go. Look, there's a door over there," Tracey could barely walk, so he placed his arm on Ash's shoulders to support himself. Ash stumbled under the weight of his friend, but was determined enough to avoid falling down. Half-dragging Tracey towards the door, he tried the knob, but of course, the door was locked.  
"Ugh! We need to find Misty!"  
"Ash... What's going on...?" Tracey asked, finally starting to see his surroundings and attempting to stand on his own.  
"I don't know! We need to find the others!" Ash, never being one to think much, decided to use brute force on the door instead, and pushed it with full force, but it wouldn't budge. He took a few steps back and ran into it, hurting his shoulder painfully. Tracey realized what he had been trying to do, and he knew that Ash needed help.  
"Let's do this," Tracey said, attempting to ignore the headache and positioning himself next to Ash for the next attempt at breaking down the door.  
"3... 2...1... Go!" Tracey commanded, and they both pushed as hard as they could, finally breaking out of the small room, and making a lot of noise in the process.  
Panting, they looked around, only to see a small light to the right of them, and complete darkness ahead of them.  
"So, where do we-..." Ash said, but was interrupted by a scream of a voice he knew all too well. It was Misty. The sound came from the right.  
Without hesitation, he ran towards the sound, with Tracey following closely behind.

**~~oOo~~**

The place was very dark; they stumbled a lot, but kept going, knowing that their friends are in danger. Although they haven't heard the scream again, they heard other voices - voices which surely didn't belong to any of their friends.  
"They're in trouble," Tracey whispered. Ash hasn't said a word. He couldn't allow the thought of something happening to Misty to overwhelm him at that time, as he needed to find her as fast as he possibly could.  
After a few excruciatingly long minutes of walking through the uneven grounds of what they assumed must have still been the Diglett Cave, they reached a turn, and as they heard pieces of conversation, they realized they were very close to their destination. Ash was about to rush in without any thought, but Tracey held him down, placing one hand over his mouth to stop him from yelling at him for doing so.  
Ash tried to escape Tracey's steel grip, but froze in place when he heard voices very close to them, right around the corner.  
"Bothersome children!" an adult female voice which they did not recognize complained, "We went to see if you were still passed out, and only found your stupid friend!"  
"Put me down!" _Misty!_ Ash wanted to rush to her aid immediately, but Tracey wouldn't let him go.  
"Where is Dawn?!" Gary's voice echoed through the narrow walls.  
"Maybe we'll tell you if you will help us with our mission," a male voice replied, and both him and his companion laughed, "Or would you rather stay up in the air?"  
Ash cringed and tried to wriggle out of Tracey's grip.  
"Ash, we need to play it smart," Tracey whispered, "We need to sneak up on them. I will let you go now, but you can't just run in there. You will only make it worse for them, okay?" he waited for Ash's confirmation, which reluctantly came after a moment of silence. "Come on. Quietly. After me."  
After a couple of quiet steps, they were able to see what was happening. Ash's blood froze at the sight.  
He saw Misty and Gary held up in the air by his very own Bulbasaur's Vine Whip. He knew it was his Bulbasaur, he'd recognize it anywhere, and all of his Pokemon were missing, so it made perfect sense. The only difference were Bulbasaur's eyes - it looked as if it was in a trance. But why would Bulbasaur ever do anything like that?

Ash couldn't see all too well in the dim light that surrounded them, but he noticed a strong shade of red on Misty's leg, and realized that she must be wounded. His heart stopped beating for just a moment at the sight of _his Misty_ being in pain.  
"Don't rush it, Ash," Tracey reprimanded and urged him to stay in the shadows as they moved closer. If not for Tracey, Ash would run straight in there and attack the two oppressors with his bare hands, but he knew better; he had to keep it cool.  
A few steps closer allowed them to see a tall, blonde-haired woman, wearing a strangely familiar uniform, and a green haired man. Ash thought he knew them from somewhere, but he couldn't quite tell, as they weren't facing him. They looked at Gary and Misty, and the man held something that resembled a controller in his hand.  
"Put us down!" Misty cried again.  
"Very well then," with that, the man pressed a button on the device he held, and Bulbasaur immediately released them both, making them fall down to the ground. Their bodies hit the floor with a loud thud, and both cried in pain. Ash could see it very clearly - Misty landed on her arm in an unfortunate position; Gary had more luck, landing in a safer way.  
This was too much for him to witness. Tracey knew nothing.  
He had to help her, now.

Ash ran ahead before Tracey could stop him and attacked the man that caused Misty so much pain.

**~~oOo~~**

Ash's reckless decision surprised the two adults. The man, not prepared for an assault, failed to defend himself from Ash jumping on his back and pushing him to the ground, but the woman reacted faster, immediately picking up the device her companion had dropped, and pressing that same red button. Seconds later, Bulbasaur rushed in and grabbed Tracey, trapping him with its strong vines.  
Ash, never having been one to start fights, didn't know how to skillfully aim his blows; he simply kept trying to hit, hoping one of the hits wouldn't miss. The man was much stronger than him, though, and after the initial shock, he managed to send Ash flying into the wall, using yet another strange device that he produced from his pocket.  
"Ash!" Misty shouted. Everything happened within no more than a couple of seconds; one moment he wasn't there, the next he was, he tackled the man down, and now, he was sent flying into the wall, and Tracey was trapped. Misty tried to get off the ground, but she supported herself on her arm, which was severely damaged; she fell back down and stared at Ash helplessly.  
Gary, still in a better condition than her, wasted no time. He knew what had to be done. The two were not very dangerous without their strange gadgets; what they had to do was get a hold of them and destroy them, after that they'd manage to overpower them by sheer numbers if nothing else.  
While the man was distracted with Ash attempting to get off the floor, Gary grabbed one of the chairs and used it as a shield of sorts as he rushed the man, tackling him down. He dropped the controller, which landed right in front of Ash. Ash, momentarily awake, grabbed it and tried to aim it at the man, but his very own Bulbasaur stopped him, and soon Ash too was held up in the air in a very tight grip.  
"Too bad this useless Bulbasaur can only carry two of you at once," the woman said, not very bothered by their attempts, and went to retrieve the controller that Ash had dropped.  
Ash finally managed to get a good look at her, and he recognized her uniform - they were members of Team Rocket!  
"What do you want from us?!" Tracey shouted. Meanwhile, the man got off the ground and smiled mischievously, taking the controller back from his companion and aiming it at Gary and Misty, keeping them in place.  
"All of your Pokémon, and more!"  
"We're..."  
"Butch..."  
"...and Cassidy!" the two introduced themselves, and a hint of recognition appeared in Ash's eyes. He has met them before. They were much better at their job than Jesse and James and have seriously endangered Ash's Pokémon more than once in the past.  
"We might as well tell them, right, Biff?" Cassidy asked.  
"It's BUTCH!" her partner shouted in frustration.  
"Whatever! We want to catch a lot of Pokémon and sell them for money, you see..." she said, "But catching them is very tiresome and ineffective!"  
"So we'll take all of yours, and you will all help us catch more of them!" Butch finished off. The four friends stared at the Rocket duo in astonishment.  
"Pokémon aren't meant to be sold!" Misty protested.  
"_Everything_ is meant to be sold, little girl!" Cassidy laughed, "So, are you going to cooperate, or do we need to keep you up there for a little while longer?"  
"We will never help you!" Ash shouted, constantly trying to escape the vines, "What have you done to my Bulbasaur?!"  
At that, Cassidy proudly held up the device she had been holding.  
"This!"  
"It controls every Pokémon that already has a trainer!"  
"That's why we need you to catch us some rare Pokémon!"  
"You are _disgusting_!" Misty cried.  
The situation seemed hopeless. Ash looked at Misty, feeling so powerless. She was wounded, and he didn't know what to do... How to escape this situation? His eyes turned to Gary - his rival would share his fate if he tried to move, and Tracey was trapped by Bulbasaur, too. His very own Bulbasaur, a friend he had for so many years...  
He thought for a moment. That could be used to his advantage. Bulbasaur had always been a loyal Pokemon, and Ash didn't believe that any lame gadget the Team Rocket could come up with could ever overcome the power of true friendship.  
"Bulbasaur!" Ash said, "Bulbasaur, it's me, Ash! Don't let these two control you!"  
Bulbasaur blinked and shook its head slightly, yet still did not release them.

Gary realized what Ash was trying to do, and he knew what he had to do to help him. It was the only way; he just had to wait for the right moment.  
"Stupid twerp, your Bulbasaur is ours now," Cassidy laughed at Ash's attempts, but the young man didn't surrender.  
"Bulbasaur, do you remember when I met you in the forest, how you protected all the sick Pokémon? You're a loyal friend! Don't do this!"  
Bulbasaur's grip slightly relaxed, leaving them more room to breathe. Ash knew that his plan was working, and kept on trying to persuade Bulbasaur into escaping the trance it was in.  
"Please, Bulbasaur!"  
Cassidy looked at the Pokemon and noticed that it was starting to give in.  
"Butch, silence that kid!"  
"You, twerp!" Butch pointed his device at Ash, "Stop it right this instant, or you're getting sent flying into the ceiling!"  
"Bulbasaur...! Remember me! Come back to me!" Ash begged; his voice was filled with desperation. A hint of recognition appeared in his Pokemon's eyes, and Ash knew he couldn't give in now.  
"I warned y-..." Butch was just about to press the red button on his controller, when Gary tackled him down. The device had already been activated, though, and Gary took the blow instead of Ash. The powerful force sent him flying into the ceiling and then back on the hard ground of the cave.  
"Gary!" Misty shouted and struggled to crawl towards him.  
Ash noticed what Gary did, and he knew that he couldn't waste the chance he had been given.  
"Bulbasaur! Come back to me!" he begged.  
The Pokémon froze. Just as Cassidy rushed to pick up the - once again - dropped controller, Bulbasaur came to its senses, and gently set his trainer down, then rushed to his side.  
"Bulbasaur! Tie them both up! Vine whip!" Bulbasaur obeyed without question this time, disarming the two Rockets effectively.  
Just as Ash thought everything might still be fine, the ceiling above Gary and Misty started to collapse from the recent impact. A few loose stones fell down at the two trainers, one passed out, one injured, and more followed.  
Ash didn't think for a minute, predicting what was about to happen. He rushed to Misty's side right before another wave of debris hit her and covered her with his own body. Tracey ran towards Gary and managed to push him out of the way of the small avalanche just in time.  
Seconds later, a part of the ceiling collapsed, showering Ash and Misty with heavy, sharp stones.  
It didn't last long, but it was more than enough to cover them almost completely. Tracey could only see parts of Ash's clothing, as Misty was covered by him.  
The young man rushed to his friends' aid, with the two Rockets observing him as they were held in Bulbasaur's grip.

Tracey quickly removed every stone he could, but it was a tedious task, one that he couldn't complete fast enough on his own. Bulbasaur would be of great help in this situation, but Tracey couldn't risk releasing the two Rockets. He exhausted himself, removing every obstacle he possibly could, and yelling at his two friends to hold on. Gary was still unconscious.

Suddenly, they all heard a loud noise down the corridor. Tracey ignored it and kept digging, but the two Rockets tried their best to see what it was. What could it possibly be? They were working alone!  
Moments later, the gigantic head of a Steelix appeared, with Brock sitting atop it, and Dawn right next to him.  
"Guys! Are you okay?!" He shouted, jumping off his Pokemon. He did not seem to be wearing any pants - luckily, he still had underwear.  
"Oh no!" Dawn shouted, noticing Ash's black hair hidden underneath the pile of stones that Tracey was trying to get rid of. Without hesitation, she rushed to help him, and they both continued. It was still much too slow.  
Brock quickly realized what had happened, and commanded his Steelix to assist them, as well as helping them himself.  
With the aid of the gigantic Pokemon, they were able to rescue a passed out Ash and a conscious, but terrified Misty much quicker.  
"No... Ash... No!" Misty pleaded, looming above him as he lied motionless on the hard, moist ground. Steelix was put to keep guard on the two Rockets, and the four friends tried to shake Ash and Gary awake. Both were heavily bruised, but Brock judged that they did not have any broken bones.  
"Wake up, please! Ash! Gary!" Dawn sobbed helplessly.

They were in the middle of the cave, with most of their Pokemon still missing, and completely no clue of where to go. No medical supplies. Nothing.  
As this horrible truth sunk in, they all realized that Butch and Cassidy were their only hope of rescuing Ash and Gary...


End file.
